Tijuana shoplifters were looking to party

A pair of middle-aged shoppers ended up behind bars in Tijuana over the October 26-27 weekend after allegedly trying to shoplift what one newspaper called enough food for a small party.

Under the headline "They wanted their carne asada free," the Baja California daily El Mexicano reported the Saturday, October 26, arrest of Alma Salazar Estrella, 44, and Feliciano Morales, 45, at the Bodega Aurrera grocery store in the second section of the El Florido neighborhood in the city's eastern reaches.

The newspaper, citing police accounts, reported that the pair tried to steal the following items, valued at 1080 pesos (about $86) but were intercepted by store employees: 2 packages of cheese, 14 packages of different types of meat, 1 package of pork cubes for shish kebabs, 4 packages of ham, 4 packages of chorizo, 3 packages of bacon, 6 packages of hotdogs.

The items, said El Mexicano, amounted to "a complete kit for a cookout" but police intervention spoiled the pair's apparent party plans. State prosecutors will now decide their fate.