10 seconds was all it took thieves to swipe photographer Brett Costello's gear in Rio

10 seconds was all a group of thieves needed to relieve Australian News Corp photographer Brett Costello of his bag of photography gear in Rio last week. The incident took place at a coffee shop in Ipanema, according to Costello's statement to The Courier Mail, where a woman distracted him while her accomplice grabbed Costello's gear bag. The thieves are said to have fled in a vehicle.

Speaking about the theft, Costello said:

I was ordering the coffee and was with my gear and then all of a sudden a woman asked me a question, so I turned briefly, probably for 10 seconds. I felt something was not quite right and my bag with all my gear was gone. She was speaking to me for about 10 seconds, not long at all. I was in shock. No one saw a thing, I couldn’t believe it, I was later told there was a getaway car outside. They work in numbers and they’re good at what they do unfortunately. The police weren’t overly surprised, there was a camera in the cafe but I don’t think that’s going to help.

Several robberies and thefts at the Rio Olympics have been reported. On August 1, Australian athletes had some of their items stolen during a building evacuation.

Late last week video footage of the robbery was released, revealing the sophisticated nature of the sting.