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While most looters resort to taking home whatever they can carry in their arms, these Tunisian thieves employed a slightly more enterprising approach… using a forklift truck.
They used the industrial vehicle to pick up one of ousted former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's Ferraris from its parking space and then simply drove off with the supercar dangling from the forks.
One looter riding in the JCB was seen grinning as he sped along a highway in the capital Tunis with the 599 GBB Fiorano, which cost £125,000 when new four years ago.
Leila Trabelsi. the former president's wife, was known for her love of fast cars - the family had more than 50 - and widely despised as the ultimate symbol of corruption and excess.
Dubbed ‘the Imelda Marcos of the Arab world’ the former hairdresser, 53, was also known for her luxury homes and frequent shopping trips to Dubai, during which she is said to have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Since Mr Ben Ali fled the country and went into exile in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, fierce riots have continued.
But today the huge street gatherings were much calmer, with protesters seen kissing soldiers and hanging flowers from their tanks.
The new government, led by Interim President Fouad Mbazaa, is distancing itself from the former regime and has begun releasing 1,800 prisoners.
It also moved to track down assets Mr Ben Ali and his widely disliked family had stashed overseas.
They include £35million worth of gold bullion smuggled out of the Mediterranean tourists haven by his wife Leila Ben Ali.
It is also estimated that Tunisian government officials have put about £388million into secret Swiss bank accounts.
Mr Mebazaa went on television and promised to live up to the people's revolt, which he called a ‘revolution’.
Regarding security, you have certainly noticed that it has improved,’ he said.
We have discovered the leaders of the chaos, and have stopped the gangs and those who put fear in the hearts of people.
The situation is moving toward stability.’
Despite the ending of Mr Ben Ali’s 23-year-old regime, protesters are staying on the streets to demand that his former allies give up power.
Mr Ben Ali's long-time prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, kept his post and is trying to convince Tunisians a new era has arrived - even if the composition of the interim government has many faces from the old guard.
But many Tunisians are doubtful about such promises of change.
Hafed al Maki, 50, who works at the country's largest insurance company, said he would not wait for the 60-day constitutional limit for new presidential elections to pass ‘because that is enough time for the old cronies to set their roots in and start their old ways again, thieving and taking our resources. No way that's happening again.’
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