High-tech theft

Two men stole a handheld debit-card machine from a store last Thursday evening in Pointe Claire. When the suspects entered the store at 6:30 p.m., one of the men asked the clerk for information about a promotion, said Const. Mélanie Gatien of Montreal police Station 5. The employee left the cash to assist the first suspect, and the other man headed over to the counter. The man cut the debit machine’s wire, slipped the unit into his pants and left the store, Gatien said. The first suspect, who was still with the cashier, received a phone call on his cell phone and left. The clerk only realized the machine was missing later in the evening. Police are looking for two white men, both about 25 years old, 5-foot-10 and about 170 pounds. The first suspect speaks French, has long dark hair and a goatee. He wore a black and yellow tuque, black jacket with a beige hood and wool collar, and jeans. His accomplice had dark hair, wore a black cap with a logo on the left side, a dark green jacket, jeans and black shoes.

Teens arrested

Police nabbed five youths caught spray-painting the side of a building in Pierrefonds last weekend, said Const. Dan Maheu of Montreal Station 3. Working on a tip from a woman whose property had been vandalized earlier, officers arrested five teens who were painting a giant red “B” on a building near the corner of Des Cageux Street and Pierrefonds Boulevard at 9:15 p.m. last Saturday. Police charged a 14-, 15- and 16-year-old from Pierrefonds, a 15-year-old from Dollard des Ormeaux and a 15-year-old from Vaudreuil-Dorion with vandalism. Maheu said police are investigating to see if the boys’ graffiti is connected to other “tags” in the West Island.쇓