ITALY:AN ELDERLY American tourist who accepted a drugged cappuccino from a stranger at a station in Rome was relieved of his luggage before he stumbled in a daze onto rail tracks and was killed by an express train.
The incident is the latest in a series of robberies and railway thefts carried out in Italy using drugs to overpower victims. Police have arrested a man after viewing CCTV footage taken at the station.
The tourist, Frank Phel (74), arrived with his wife at Rome's Tiburtina station late on Thursday. The couple woke from their drugged sleep on Friday morning to find their luggage and valuables missing.
Telling his wife he would call the police, Mr Phel left the waiting room, but set off down the tracks in a daze, where he was hit by the Rome-Florence train.
Mrs Phel was later able to identify the man who had bought the coffee from CCTV footage. He was arrested near the station. Police say he is believed to have drugged and robbed an elderly Italian near the station on a previous occasion.
- (Guardian service)