Police are blaming gangs of Bulgarian women, drawn to the UK by European Union expansion, for soaring rates of pickpocketing in London.
Official crime figures due out in April are expected to show a disturbing rise in pickpocketing offences, especially on the London Underground. Across the capital, there has been a 120 per cent rise in pickpocket crimes in January compared with last year. 'And that is the ones we know about,' said a senior detective. 'We are looking at 250 crimes a week.'
The robberies, police say, are mainly being committed by groups of Bulgarian women in their 20s. 'The problem is we can't deport them like Bosnians, because they are part of the European Union. Extra police resources have had to be put in to tackle this problem.'
Bulgarian organised crime gangs operate using pairs of women. Recent cases include 24-year-old Eugenyia Bakova, who was jailed for 16 weeks on 17 January for theft, and on 22 January Horseferry magistrates issued a warrant for the arrest of an 18-year-old on pickpocket allegations.
Romania and Bulgaria have added 30 million to the EU population and both have jobless rates of up to 10 per cent. The Institute of Public Policy Research estimates that 56,000 Romanians and Bulgarians may arrive in the UK within the first year.
A British Transport Police spokesman said: 'There have been more Eastern Europeans from our arrest profile over the two months. And there has been an 18 per cent increase in passenger property theft over the last two months (December 2006 and January 2007) compared with December 2005 and January 2006.' Of 27 men and women arrested for pickpocketing on the tube in January, 22 were of Eastern European origin.
Area commander Paul Crowther said: 'The tube network is covered by CCTV cameras both on stations and trains. BTP has responded to the current increase in thefts by increasing profile patrols and the number of undercover officers on the tube network.'
Retired Metropolitan Flying Squad commander John O'Connor said: 'What used to happen was that there was a dedicated squad to fight pickpocketing, but that was disbanded, and there is no central database. Instead it is left to local police, who haven't got the whole picture. There's a lot of police spin and most theft gets reported as lost property to keep numbers down.'
Yana Buhrer Tavanier, an editor for the Bulgarian weekly Capital, said: 'In Bulgaria there are cases of pickpocketing, most often committed by Roma women or children, though the numbers have dropped in recent years. Other European countries have also reported cases of pickpocketing by Bulgarian citizens... In 2005 there were around 600 registered cases in Vienna. In 2006 it was reported that as a result of a joint action by Bulgarian and Austrian authorities the numbers have dropped drastically.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/ … 46,00.html
Official crime figures due out in April are expected to show a disturbing rise in pickpocketing offences, especially on the London Underground. Across the capital, there has been a 120 per cent rise in pickpocket crimes in January compared with last year. 'And that is the ones we know about,' said a senior detective. 'We are looking at 250 crimes a week.'
The robberies, police say, are mainly being committed by groups of Bulgarian women in their 20s. 'The problem is we can't deport them like Bosnians, because they are part of the European Union. Extra police resources have had to be put in to tackle this problem.'
Bulgarian organised crime gangs operate using pairs of women. Recent cases include 24-year-old Eugenyia Bakova, who was jailed for 16 weeks on 17 January for theft, and on 22 January Horseferry magistrates issued a warrant for the arrest of an 18-year-old on pickpocket allegations.
Romania and Bulgaria have added 30 million to the EU population and both have jobless rates of up to 10 per cent. The Institute of Public Policy Research estimates that 56,000 Romanians and Bulgarians may arrive in the UK within the first year.
A British Transport Police spokesman said: 'There have been more Eastern Europeans from our arrest profile over the two months. And there has been an 18 per cent increase in passenger property theft over the last two months (December 2006 and January 2007) compared with December 2005 and January 2006.' Of 27 men and women arrested for pickpocketing on the tube in January, 22 were of Eastern European origin.
Area commander Paul Crowther said: 'The tube network is covered by CCTV cameras both on stations and trains. BTP has responded to the current increase in thefts by increasing profile patrols and the number of undercover officers on the tube network.'
Retired Metropolitan Flying Squad commander John O'Connor said: 'What used to happen was that there was a dedicated squad to fight pickpocketing, but that was disbanded, and there is no central database. Instead it is left to local police, who haven't got the whole picture. There's a lot of police spin and most theft gets reported as lost property to keep numbers down.'
Yana Buhrer Tavanier, an editor for the Bulgarian weekly Capital, said: 'In Bulgaria there are cases of pickpocketing, most often committed by Roma women or children, though the numbers have dropped in recent years. Other European countries have also reported cases of pickpocketing by Bulgarian citizens... In 2005 there were around 600 registered cases in Vienna. In 2006 it was reported that as a result of a joint action by Bulgarian and Austrian authorities the numbers have dropped drastically.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/ … 46,00.html
