On the 22nd local time, 20 members of a Roma tribe suspected of using minors to pick up on the Paris subway in France were sentenced by the local judicial department to 4-8 years' imprisonment respectively for 'exploitation of minors, gang crime, concealment and money laundering', with a total term of 113 years, and were prohibited from entering French territory.
According to Agence France Presse, quoted by French television 3, a judicial source revealed that the French police launched an investigation into Gang theft at Paris subway stations and on the subway at the end of 2016 and found that a large number of teenagers aged 11 to 18 were gang stealing passengers' mobile phones and wallets within the subway. When committing the crime, someone was responsible for diverting the victim's attention and someone was pickpocketing, Then transfer the stolen goods to other associates and run away. During the UN climate change conference held in Paris in 2015 and the European Cup football match held in 2016, the crimes committed by relevant gangs were particularly rampant. In January 2017, the French police established judicial cooperation with Romania, and after six months, they arrested more than one suspect in France, Romania, Spain and Italy, basically the parents of minor pickpockets.
According to the Paris prosecutor's office, these Roma families have no fixed residence in France and travel between France and Romania. During the arrest, the police identified more than 50 minor pickpockets, but these teenagers do not think they are victims. They will be sent back to their hometown next. In Romania, judicial proceedings against other suspect are continuing.
According to the Paris prosecutor's office, the last round of arrests in 2017 led to a sharp decline in subway theft in Paris, but the pickpocketing gang has been reorganized, and some minors who had been sent back to Romania earlier returned to Paris to commit crimes. According to the report released by the Paris municipal government in June, the number of theft cases in the Paris subway system soared by 68% from January to June this year. According to the data of the Ministry of the interior, theft in Paris increased by 32% in the first nine months of this year, of which the vast majority of 'nonviolent theft' occurred on public transport, especially the subway.
According to the Parisian newspaper, the Paris Metro Line 6 passing through the Eiffel Tower and line 2 leading to Montmartre are the "hardest hit areas" for pickpocketing. Passengers often hear the Paris mass transit company (RATP) remind passengers to pay attention to safety and take good care of their belongings through radio. In addition to tourists and other passengers, subway staff are often targets of theft. On the afternoon of the 21st, a female driver of line 6 was in shire & middot; The de Gaulle Star Station was attacked by several female pickpockets, which disturbed the operation of the subway.
An employee of the Paris mass transit company complained that whenever pickpockets were found to haunt and commit crimes, the company would call the police to intervene, but the pickpockets were very aware of their rights and claimed that they were minors. They would be released after being investigated for 15 minutes, which was helpless. Moreover, these young pickpockets are unscrupulous, claiming that they have been delayed in 'working hours', and will turn back to insult subway employees after being released, and some employees have even been threatened with death.
(original title: France arrested 20 subway thief families and sentenced them to 113 years)