Pickpockets' new trick: Spit-and-grab your wallet

Pickpockets are playing a new trick on pedestrians using underpasses in the busy areas of Sharjah.

A Bangladeshi was passing through the busy Rolla underpass last Friday evening. From the opposite direction came an African who spat on the Bangladeshi’s trousers with apparent carelessness.

“He quickly said sorry and tried to help the Bangladeshi by joining him in cleaning his trousers with a paper after which he went away,” said an eye witness.

“When the Bangladeshi went into a shop to buy something, he was shocked to find out that his wallet was missing. He lost Dh2,500 that was in the wallet and his national ID card,” the eye witness added.

The pickpocket who was coming from the opposite direction had deliberately spat on the victim’s clothes to divert his attention and relieve him of his wallet.

A number of people have complained of losing their wallets in the busy areas of Sharjah, especially at bus stations, underpasses and market places.

Some pickpockets sometimes drop chemicals on victims' clothes to divert attention and then help them in cleaning up while picking his pocket.

“When somebody spits on your dress, you lose your cool and pickpockets make use of your annoyance to steal the wallet,” said the witness.

Novel Modus Operandi

Another tricked played by pickpockets is as follows: One member of the gang will bump into an identified victim, then hug and say sorry to the victim, while another member of the gang will pick his wallet, walk a little and hand it over to a third gang member hanging around in the area. Two Ethiopians were arrested by Dubai Police for this type of pickpocketing.

Last year, a pickpocket was detained in a busy shopping mall after a woman found her wallet missing from her bag, which she had kept in the shopping trolley. The shopping mall’s CCTV showed the man stealing the wallet from the bag in the shopping trolley while the woman was busy selecting her purchases.

Some pickpockets have also been found to be operating in shopping malls while dressed as women.

Emirates24|7 earlier reported about good-looking women dressed in abayas entering lifts with a man. They would start a conversation with him, suddenly embrace him and pick his pocket or remove his gold chain.

Thieves also wait in front of ATM machines and bank branches to snatch money from people leaving these places with cash.

Some gangs use a different technique like spilling chemicals underneath a car to misinform the driver that his car’s petrol tank is leaking or that the tyre is flat. Taking advantage of the victim’s anxiety, the suspects snatch bags kept on the car’s seat and disappear into the crowd.

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