PSP detained 5 foreign pickpockets from an international network

The Public Security Police (PSP) arrested three foreign men and two women in flagrante delicto this Wednesday on suspicion of pickpocketing and withdrawing cash with stolen bank cards . After being questioned by a judge, they were remanded in pretrial detention awaiting trial. They are suspected of belonging to a "transnational criminal organization" due to the sophisticated and technological methods used.

The arrest took place in Praça do Império, the PSP (Public Security Police) describes in a press release, when four of the pickpockets followed a tourist. "She was climbing the stairs of the underpass next to the Monument to the Discoveries in Lisbon, while the two women [pickpockets] strategically positioned themselves in front of her to prevent her from walking. The two men positioned themselves behind her, and one of them opened her bag and stole her wallet, then turned back," the police force accurately describes, revealing the first part of the suspects' method.

Investigators from F3C, a special PSP force dedicated to combating this criminal phenomenon, witnessed the pickpockets' actions as they occurred and followed them to Praça do Império in Lisbon, where three of the pickpockets were preparing to get into a vehicle with the fifth pickpocket at the wheel to make a quick escape from the scene.

It was at that moment that investigators arrested the four pickpockets they caught red-handed stealing from the tourist. The fifth pickpocket fled in the vehicle and took the victim's bank cards , then went to an ATM to make eight withdrawals of €150 each, totaling €1,200. He was later located at his residence by authorities. He was then detained, and the amount illegally withdrawn from the ATM was recovered and returned to the victim.

During the investigation, the PSP discovered that the car was rented and was used to flee the theft sites and quickly reach a location "where a touchpad with a bank card reader was located, a device suspected of being used to make immediate monetary movements/transactions with the cards stolen from the victims." In other words, the victims wouldn't even have time to cancel their cards, preventing withdrawals.

Given all these details, the investigators realized that they were dealing with a group of pickpockets " with a high degree of sophistication and organization " combined with their way of operating with "technical means already with some technology that allow us to conclude that we are dealing with a top group of pickpockets."

The PSP also reveals that of the five detainees, only two had a history of this type of theft, while the other three had just arrived in Lisbon. They were presented for their first judicial interrogation with the criminal investigation judge and the most severe coercive measure was applied to them, with the five awaiting trial in preventive detention.