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This programme contains strong language and some adult content.
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Summer 2013 - unsuspecting Brits are flying into a crimewave in Spain.
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You're constantly like, where's my bag?
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Is my zip open? ls my pocket open? Who's that standing behind me?
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A new type of pickpocket, more brazen and cunning than ever before,
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armed with an array of new criminal tricks, is targeting the unwary.
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The reptile is a particularly sneaky pickpocket
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and he will target you whilst you're having sex on the beach.
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Professional dippers who know how to play the system.
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You can quite happily go through the day stealing from people
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and nothing will happen to you.
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Next thing I know they're running off and that was me wallet gone.
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They're absolute vermin. Scumbags. Absolute scumbags, they are.
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We have exclusive access to the undercover police,
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as they attempt to fight back.
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And we're with a hardy group of expats...
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Rickshaw taxi!
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..with their unique ways of trying to protect their fellow Brits.
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I'll physically stop pickpockets from getting on a train
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when they're about to put their hand in someone's bag.
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You see it all the time and you try and stop it if you can stop it.
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For Brits abroad,
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Spain is the most likely place in the world to be dipped.
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And there's a warning to Britain.
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All of the pickpockets say that they want to go to London.
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With London the number one destination for European tourists
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and just a short flight away,
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the UK's a tempting destination for the East European gangs.
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Barcelona,
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home of Gaudi and alfresco dining,
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draws over 1.5 million British tourists every year,
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many of whom are blissfully unaware that they are attracting
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a certain type of criminal.
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The pickpockets are targeting the British tourists
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simply because they view them as having a great deal of money.
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You don't have to be rich in our country
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to be considered rich by these guys.
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The Brits are the biggest foreign spenders in Spain, parting with
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over 4.5 million euro first six months of this year alone.
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Which makes them a target for some of the most unscrupulous
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pickpocket gangs in Europe.
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So London, yeah, that's got its dippers,
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Paris has got plenty of pickpockets, but Barcelona at the moment,
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they're in the Premier League, they're the dons of the trade.
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The Montjuic Park area of Barcelona and a team of undercover
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police officers are on the trail of two known pickpockets.
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These are the two suspects in a queue of tourists.
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This police officer, posing as a tourist, is waiting to pounce.
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But he can only stop the men if he sees them attempt a dip.
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When pickpockets work in pairs,
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one will do the dip whilst the other one carries the goods away.
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This ensures they don't get caught red-handed.
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The undercover j the two suspects to an outdoor cafe.
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A closer look reveals the man in purple to be Ley Karavan,
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a known pickpocket from Romania.
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Right now.
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The suspects move off towards the Olympic Stadium.
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Under Spanish law, convicted pickpockets can only receive
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a prison sentence if they are found to have stolen 400 euros or more.
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Any less, and the most the offenders will get is a cautionary fine.
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From that position we have the view of the two.
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Now, the nervous wait
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for the two pickpockets to make a move on a tourist.
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Ley and his accomplice move in.
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A hand goes into a bag and they move away.
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It's just what the police have been waiting for.
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Ley and his friend are detained, whilst the police officer tries
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to explain what has happened to two rather confused British tourists.
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He... He opened the bag. He opened the bag.Yes. Goodness!
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Where are you from? Er, well, we're from England,
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but this fella came around and I thought this fella's attacking him,
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there's some private disagreement.
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I never even noticed these guys.
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I... I... I lost sight... You know, I wasn't even looking at that.
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Don't get excited, Peter, don't get excited.
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The police search the men,
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only for Ley to offer to expose himself to the cameras.
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This time, the tourists escape without losing any money.
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Good news for them, but not necessarily for the police.
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All they can do now is bail the pickpockets to appear in court,
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where the most punishment they can expect
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is a statutory fine of between 100 and 300 euros.
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Pickpocketing is a professional game.
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Like any other business, it's about risk and return.
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You steal 300, you get fined 100, so what?
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In 2012, almost 2,000 British tourists were robbed in Barcelona.
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Faced with such a challenge,
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an unlikely group of expats have decided to take on the dippers.
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Mates Danny, Mike and Pete relocated from Liverpool to Barcelona
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four years ago and now work as rickshaw drivers on the seafront.
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Welcome to our office.
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Who doesn't like a nice, friendly pair of Scousers
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who AREN'T out to rob them?!
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Recently, the intrepid chauffeurs have taken it upon themselves
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to try and protect the tourists against the dipper gangs.
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They're absolute vermin.
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I'm disgraced by it, like, because you're dealing with it every day.
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just one warning, really.
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There's lots of thieves operate on the beach, so just be careful.
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Always look after your bags and keep them in front of you.All right.
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Rather than behind. Hey, buddy.
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I just thought I'd warn you that there are a lot of thieves
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who are operating here and if this is even just slightly
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out of sight, they could whip it really quick and escape on a bike.
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Thank you. No problem.
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It could be the first day of the holiday.
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They get this little bit of time to go and enjoy themselves and there's
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nothing worse than having that taken away from you right at the beginning.
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Not surprisingly,
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the dipper gangs don't appreciate the Scousers' campaign.
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Wheeling rickshaws, we meet a lot of tourists who come through the city.
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We were warning people off of the thieves,
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as the thieves were stealing their things and the thieves came up to us
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and threatened us directly and said, "This is my job.
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"You do your job and we'll stay out of each other's way."
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And that was a pretty direct threat
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and it meant that there's a lot of us,
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sometimes we are carrying knives, and things like that,
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so don't mess around with us.
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Hola! ALL:Hola!
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The trio have now developed more subtle methods of warning tourists.
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If I see a guy coming up, I'll just go...
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RINGS BELL LOUDLV ..rickshaw taxi!
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And then the person turns around, sees the guy going for the bag,
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and at least I've warned them, in my own kind of way,
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without going up to them and saying,
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"You're going to get robbed," do you know?
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I've seen these guys since I've been here.
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God knows how many times I've seen them being arrested.
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But there's four guys and they're looking down onto people
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and they're sussing things out.
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Danny has just spotted four men he believes to be
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a gang of working pickpockets on the seafront.
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We'll just follow them behind and, hopefully, we'll catch something.
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They're actually going down to the beach now.
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They're looking for people who they can pick off,
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who have gone into the sea, left their bags unattended
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and they've obviously spied something, so they're heading down,
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so I think we should go over and see if we can catch something.
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They're definitely up to something.
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They're talking to people on the rocks.
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They've got groups of people on the rocks.
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To catch them in the act would be absolutely fantastic.
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Go, "There you are. Show that to the police."
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The gang realise they are being observed.
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A man raises his hand in recognition.
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But at least one group of tourists and their wallets have been saved.
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In Barcelona, the pickpocket will use every means possible
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to get at the valuables of unsuspecting British tourists.
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Probably, my favourite scam in the history of scanning
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is the midget-in-the-bag scam. Brilliant.
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This took me by surprise, about the level of ingenuity
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I'm seeing in the mind of the thieves.
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This is Miquelon, whose name means "Big Miguel".
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He's the key to the most ingenious theft scam ever.
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Take it away, Miquelon.
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The man-in-a bag scam involves a small person,
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or a contortionist, who is able to climb inside a tourist travel bag.
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This coach is packed full of tourists and their valuables,
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which are safely in the hold.
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Or so they think.
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Miquelon is out the bag, surrounded by tourist treasure,
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and his pilfering hands are hard at work.
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He's back in the bag and no-one even knew he was there.
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But this isn't the only cunning trick designed
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to part tourists from their cash.
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Coming up, the devious new tricks being played on British tourists.
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The mute petition is a beautiful scam.
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The consul official who tries to pick up the pieces...
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Keep your wits about you and get a bag with a zip.
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..and the dipper gangs move down the coast to the seaside resorts.
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They're perfect for the pickpockets.
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..where a different breed of dipper comes out play.
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Over 13 million British tourists will visit Spain this year,
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many blissfully unaware that
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Eastern European pickpocket gangs are waiting to prey on them.
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Hi guys. Having your bags on the beach, you know,
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it's a really bad spot, this area, for pickpockets, for bag snatchers,
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OK? So if you just be aware of it, don't put your bags behind you,
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keep them close.Thank you very much.You're very welcome.
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No worries, cheers. All the best, take care.
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Basically, she's got my wallet, so, if we're going to lose it,
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she's in trouble!
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You'll meet at least one person a day who's been robbed, and
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if it's a stag do, there'll be four or five of them have been robbed.
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In one night.ln one night.
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And they go, and all their mates go, "Ha-ha, he's been robbed."
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Only to get robbed that same night.
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I would say that the Brits are very unprepared for the type
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of crime that they might see.
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# Championes! #
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They would never dream, I think, of how brazen
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and how close into people's personal space the thieves are willing to go.
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We were just talking to these Spanish lads,
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we were pretty bevvied up, so we'd
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had a few drinks, and they were just talking to us, and we were kind of
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dancing and that, and the next thing I know, they're all running off.
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That was me wallet gone.
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Being an ex-crime prevention officer, I keep it in me sock.
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Because...
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Anything to stop the buggers.
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With both British tourists and local police on their guard,
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the pickpockets are becoming ever more inventive.
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The pickpockets have to create new tricks,
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because it's difficult for the pickpockets
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if the police know their tricks.
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PC Meri of the Mossos police has been alerted to
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a gang of women outside Barcelona's Sagrada Familia
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who are fleecing tourists with one of these new, devious techniques.
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It's called the mute petition scam.
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The mute petition is a beautiful scam.
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It plays on our conscience
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and allows the pickpocket to get in close whilst he does the dip.
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The pretend mute will approach with the petition to raise
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money for the bogus charity.
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The victim, feeling sympathetic,
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will come in close to sign the petition.
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This will allow the pickpocket to work his magic underneath.
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Outside the Sagrada Familia, cameras pick up a gang of women
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with purple folders asking tourists to sign a petition.
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With the victim suitably distracted by the petition board, you can see
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the pickpockets helping themselves to the contents of this woman's bag.
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A tug to open the zip...
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..and then in, to take the cash.
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PC Meri and her team close in
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on another gang of women at the location.
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Here's two of the gang with clipboards
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and petitions in their hands.
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Yes, come on, because one of these girls is very... She knows me.
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Two of the female pickpockets approach some tourists
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whilst the other two keep a lookout.
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There's a hand movement off-camera.
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The team can't be sure, but a girl could have made a dip.
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The call is made to stop and search them.
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It seems that the girls have voices after all,
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though they are in no hurry to confess.
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The girls are Bosnian, and all under 25,
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which is not unusually young for the gangs.
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The people who are stealing are probably between 11
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and early 30s, and often it's the third or fourth
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generation of thief who's come to Barcelona to do that.
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The girls are not found with any money on them
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but they have been caught with fake petitions,
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so they are cuffed and taken back to the station for further questioning.
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This year there's been a 20% rise
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in the number of British tourists losing passports in Barcelona.
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Many due to the dipper gangs.
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And i