Fiumicino. The "commuters of the crime" band has been defeated
The Fiumicino Border Police have vanquished a band of twelve Algerians renamed "commuters of the crime", because many of them regularly carried out thefts in Italy, even though they resided permanently in France and Spain. Not only did they target wealthy passengers departing from Fiumicino airport, mainly Russian, Arab and Eastern, but they were very adept at disguising themselves and changing clothes within minutes. Finally, if caught in flagrante delicto by the police, they often pretend to be citizens of Libyan nationality, to avoid repatriation. Moreover, they were able to alternate and exchange roles, shuttling between their countries of residence and Italy, just like they were real commuters.
After months of capillary investigations, stalking and tight checks between the Roman airport, the Termini station and some areas in the heart of the capital, investigators from the judicial police of the Fiumicino border police were able to arrest 5 for pick-up theft, pickpockets, all of nationality Algerian, with specific criminal records and to denounce seven others.
Important to identify the members of the band, in addition to the meticulous investigations, also the images captured by the video surveillance system implemented at the airport by the management company, Aeroporti di Roma.
Only in the last two weeks the North African pickpockets had managed to carry out even three thefts in a few hours and to accumulate stolen goods for more than 50 thousand euros. Money and other expensive items partially recovered by the judicial police and returned to their rightful owners.
The band, which used to even rent cars from low-cost companies to get around, was specialized in stealing luggage and the area of major tourist influx most targeted was precisely the Roman airport, the car rental areas, those of the parking lots located near the airports. But their field of action, as far as we could learn, was much broader: the five-star hotels belonging to well-known chains located in the center of Rome, the main streets of the city center and the Termini station. And right around the central station, moreover, that the investigators subsequently discovered that some members of the gang of pickpockets stayed, in some small accommodations managed by foreign characters without scruples, who, violating the law on anti-terrorism, did not record not even the entrance of its customers.