A years-long crime spree by Chinese toilet paper thieves may have reached the end of its roll after park officials in southern Beijing installed facial recognition technology to flush out bathroom bandits. Then the machine dispensed their individual allotment of 60 cm (23 inches) of toilet paper. Toilet paper crooks have been known to take home entire rolls, smuggling them out in bulging bags that go undetected at the security gates. In 2014, they started experimenting with different ways of tracking toilet paper usage and finally settled on facial recognition -- but not without some internal dispute. One commenter wrote: "In two days, the facial recognition machine will be stolen too."

Source: Egypt Independent March 21, 2017 11:37 UTC