Athens police reported the elimination of a large gang from more than 200 pickpocketswhich literally terrorized public transport passengers, mainly in the center of Athens, as well as at Eleftherios Venizelos airport.
Features of a gang of pickpockets
According to the police, thousands of residents of the capital of Greece and tourists, visiting the sights of Athens, became victims of a large gang of foreigners, which included more than two hundred pickpockets operating in sub-groups.
According to unofficial data, everyone became victims of pickpockets 3rd resident of the capital of Greece, as well as almost half of the tourists who visited Athens. Many victims of theft simply did not report to the police, because they understand the pointlessness of wasting time visiting the site, knowing that no one will look for their money.
The gang was divided into six subgroups, each consisting of experienced pickpockets, a force support group, a distraction group and delivery men. Criminals used all necessary measures to remain undetected and hide stolen items, and also used keywords in conversation to avoid detection.
One criminal subgroup consisting of 94 people, mainly of Romanian origin, was actively involved in thefts from tourists and citizens on public transport. When they spoke to each other Mortu (dead), they meant wallet, Indian (Indian) – policeman, Les (running) – theft, and Sobolan (rat) – drugs.
In fact, the conversations of the group members reveal their actions, as they say, among other things: “I don’t take the blue ones anymore,” “the green ones are where the money is,” referring to the subway lines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDUQaTFKOrg
Their main target was women or elderly people as evidenced by the documents that have appeared about their actions. Each subgroup of the network had its own additional area of activity, for example, drug trafficking, theft of items from cars and houses, and the distribution of counterfeit euro banknotes.
In fact, documents about the gangs show how they operated, such as a video released showing a gang member boarding a bus in central Athens and trying to snatch the wallet of an elderly man standing right in front of him.
The video shows him falling to the ground as the elderly man looks for an empty seat on the bus.
In another video posted by in, two gang members are seen on a street in central Athens checking out potential victims. In the video, two women can be seen, with one of the gang members following the other one.
How the police dismantled a criminal organization
Thanks to coordinated checks, the police managed to dismantle a criminal organization whose members were Albanian and Romanian origin. The liquidation of the criminal network began in August last year, when six Romanians were arrested in one of the hotels in Athens. During the operation, 484 checks of individuals, 171 arrests and 57 detentions were carried out. Members of the criminal organization are believed to include an Albanian citizen who shot and seriously wounded three friends from Crete partying in Gazi last December and remains at large.
The gang's income is at least 1.4 million euros. They are also believed to have sold 1,500 counterfeit notes, 16 kilograms of cannabis and 1.5 kilograms of cocaine. It is noteworthy: in order to be able to “withdraw” money from cards found in stolen wallets, they even had POS machines.
How the gangs operated
Thefts from media and tourist sites (two subgroups)
One criminal sub-group, consisting of 94 people mainly of Romanian origin, was involved in thefts from tourists and citizens on public transport (both indoors and outdoors), as well as in crowded places in the center of Athens.
For their criminal activities, members of the group created suitable conditions in which they acted in an organized manner, taking wallets, mobile phones, travel documents and other valuables from their victims. They then placed them in hiding places and returned to continue their activities. Having reached the goal, they took the stolen items and took a taxi to the meeting places with the group involved in the storage and sale of stolen goods.
If debit or credit cards were among the stolen items, they diversified their operations and, if the PIN was in the wallet, withdraw money directly from ATMs, in other cases through POS machines kept in homes.
To avoid being identified, they wore appropriate clothing, acted very quickly and constantly changed their place of residence (hotels and short-term rented rooms).
Second subgroup consisting of 34 people, mostly of Albanian origin, was also active in committing thefts in the media and on the busy streets of central Athens. For transportation, members of this subgroup used rented cars, and operated mainly on the Municipal Theater-Airport metro line, completely controlling it, since everyone who wanted to work on this line had to obtain their permission and comply with a wage quota .
Drug trafficking
The subgroup consisted of 46 members who were involved in drug trafficking in the center of Athens and Eastern Attica, with a defined hierarchical structure and functions. They mainly trafficked cannabis and cocaine, and in some cases members of the group engaged in circulation of counterfeit banknotes. 19 members of this subgroup supplied counterfeit banknotes to “customers”, drawing up a special price list for each bill (100, 50 and 20 euro bills were supplied at prices of 30, 15 and 5 euros, respectively).
Thefts from private cars and houses
This subgroup consisted of 19 members of Arab origin who, using appropriate equipment, carried out thefts from private cars, as well as robberies of houses and workplaces in the center of Athens. The stolen property was handed over to buyers for a certain amount of money.
Gang management and sale of stolen goods
This subgroup, consisting of 24 members, coordinated the actions of the entire criminal network, their actions were aimed at other members accepting the stolen goods, which they stored either at home or in stores. In particular, members of the subgroup also coordinated drug trafficking.
PS 200 people are just the tip of the iceberg, which was “slightly pinched” by the police. In reality, in Athens and in the tourist areas of Greece there are many thousands of pickpockets, who are periodically caught and then almost immediately released, since the punishment for such a crime is minimal, and it is quite difficult to catch pickpockets with experience in the “hot” situation. Therefore, all we can recommend is to actively defend yourself. Below you can read some useful tips on the topic.
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