Barcelona’s Thieves En-Route to London for Olympics

Our Facebook group has been busy over the past 48 hours with updates from our fans/friends about a recent BBC report they had seen.

The article and video in question, which can be seen here, is entitled “Olympics: Pickpockets show off ‘one-second theft’”

The accompanying video, shows the Ronaldinho technique in action, something we’ve all come to be familiar with here in Barcelona.

Of the plans of Barcelona’s thieves to relocated to London for the summer to target Olympic fans, the article notes, “The petty thieves struggle to hide their excitement as they conduct their research on the internet, scanning through images of bustling shopping centres near the Olympic Village and overcrowded tubes and buses.”

The trio featured, originally from Romania, are interviewed by the journalist, and they tell him: “Cameras, laptops and phones are sent back to Romania to be sold on the black market and we can make 5,000 euros in a week because a tourist left his bag a second, you know, a second.” When asked if he and the others feel guilty, Johnny (not his real name) hesitates and eventually whispers: “Yeah, I do”.

British police are attempting to disrupt such plans. The article commences with the text: “A suspected gang of Romanian and Lithuanian pickpockets is about to get an early-morning wake-up call as a sleepy street in Barking, east London, is invaded by armed police.” Read the article to find out more.

Tags: 2012, bag, barcelona, bbc, bobby, british, crime, example, games, london, olympics, pickpocketing, police, report, romanian, snatching, stealing, uk, video, world