A pensioner from Italy revealed that a shop owner of a ticket shop where she won £430,000 ran away with her ticket and tried to leave the country with it.
The pensioner said that she won £430,000 from a scratch card, however, the ticket was stolen by the shop keeper she bought it from.
According to a report by The Mirror, the Italian woman, who is in her 60s, bought 2 scratch cards in a Tobacco Shop.
Upon scratching them, she realized that she had won the top price of around £430,000.
When she asked the shop workers to verify the win with the owner Gaetano Scutellaro, he then took off with the ticket.
Earlier this week, the border police at Rome’s main airport prevented Scutellaro from boarding a flight to the Canary Islands.
The news was confirmed by news agencies in Italy.
Upon investigation, it was said that the woman passed the card to an employee for verification. The employee then passed the card to one of the shop’s owner for a final check and instead of confirming it, the man kept the card and raced off on his scooter through Naples.
A manhunt was launched by the authorities.
The police enlisted to try to find the man and the missing ticket.
2 days after the incident, he was stopped by the police at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport as he tried to board a flight out of their country.
The man did not have the card, which is worth 500,000 euros (£428,000), on him when he was arrested by the police.
However, the police did find a plane ticket for Fuerteventura, which is one of the Canary Islands, with him when he was arrested.
After being stopped at the airport, the man told the police that the ticket was in a bank in the city of Latina.
The city is 2 hours away from Naples.
He also insisted that the cash prize belonged to him and said that the scratch card was his.
The man also told the police that he planned to report the elderly woman for Libel.
The man is currently in bail.
According to a report in Italy, the man insisted to the police that the card belonged to him and that he has opened a new bank account.
He also asked for the prize to be credited to him.
Investigators are still looking for the game card.
