Jammed Till Stops Pizza Burglars, Students Return $700

Sometimes the best security system is a drawer that simply won't budge.

Two would-be thieves smashed their way into Sal's Pizza in Dunedin, New Zealand, grabbed the cash register, and ran. But when they couldn't crack open the jammed till, they abandoned it on George Street. That's when local students spotted it and did exactly the right thing.

The students called police around 10:30 pm on Tuesday after finding the cash-laden register sitting on the street. Officers quickly identified it as belonging to the pizza restaurant and discovered more than $700 still locked safely inside.

Acting Senior Sergeant Iain Notman confirmed police found a smashed window at Sal's Pizza, located at the former Captain Cook Tavern site. The restaurant owners were contacted immediately and secured the property.

The Bright Side

This story isn't just about a failed robbery. It's about students who saw something valuable that didn't belong to them and chose honesty over opportunity.

In an era when we often hear about crime and declining values, these young people proved that integrity is alive and thriving. They could have walked past the till or attempted to open it themselves. Instead, they immediately contacted authorities.

The burglars, meanwhile, learned an expensive lesson about crime not paying. CCTV cameras captured two persons of interest, and police are actively investigating. Sometimes karma works through a jammed cash drawer.

For the pizza shop owners, what could have been a significant financial loss turned into a reminder that their community has their back. The students' quick thinking meant not a single dollar went missing.

Police are asking anyone with information about the suspects to contact them at 105, quoting file number 260520/0703. But the real story here isn't the criminals who failed; it's the honest students who succeeded in doing the right thing when nobody was watching.