Three thieves wanted to knock over a small shop in the Columbian village of Juan de Acosta. For their getaway, they enlisted the services of a donkey.

Or stole the service is more like it, as they had snatched 10-year-old Xavi from his pen 12 hours earlier. This proved to be a very bad idea.

The cons loaded the pack animal with rum, oil, rice, cans of tuna and sardines after their 2 AM robbery. However the donkey refused to cooperate with their caper and began belting out a series of "hee-haws."

The brays attracted the attention of the police, who descended on the thieves.

They were able to escape, although they had to leave behind all of their plunder. Police did detain Xavi for the better part of a day, but we guess when the authorities determined the animal wasn't in on the plot he was returned to his rightful owner.

While we hate to give advice to criminals, the moral of this story seems to be to stick with a getaway car.

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