36. The Police Suggested The Revenge

Pexels
This happened to a friend of mine years ago, and me as well, but he did the revenge. I lived in a small village by the sea. Most people had a small boat with an outboard motor.
People were not poor but far from rich. Someone began stealing gas from the boats on multiple occasions. Lots of people got livid. They lost their gas, of course, but even worse was that several ran out of gas far from shore, potentially very dangerous.
A friend of mine went to the local police and got to talk to the chief of police and got the following advice: “Fill a can with gas, mix it with sugar, and put the can in your boat.”
My friend got a bit concerned and asked if this was illegal and could get him in trouble. “It is not illegal to mix sugar and gas. It is your gas. If someone steals it, is no problem of yours. If the thief files a complaint, you can rest assured that I will follow it up regarding all the thefts.” And so he did.
A nice brand new can filled to the brim with gas and lots of sugar. The can was gone the day after. Fast forward a week. The local engine repair shop got a pretty new 120hp engine in for repair.
As said, a small village, so after checking up on the engine, it was easy for the mechanic to put two and two together. The mechanic told the customer that the engine was beyond repair (a lie, I guess) and that the customer should contact the police because this was sabotage. The police got no complaint.
Of course, the story went viral in the small community. The thief was, until then, a well-respected person. The moving van showed up a few months later.