Finding your stolen wallet on the metro in Paris?
It's possible.
This is what happened to a 63-year-old American passenger, victim of a “pickpocketing” on Friday evening.
Three men had attracted the attention of the Blast police officers, also nicknamed the “Metro Bac”, whose agents, in plain clothes, track down pickpockets.
They patrol the Ile-de-France network seven days a week. And this Friday, around 6:30 p.m., the suspicious trio was not the most discreet.
The accomplices regularly changed lines, seeming to follow users, particularly on line 2. From Nation to Porte Dauphine, this metro is widely used by tourists, who particularly want to discover the charms of Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur.
The warning messages in several languages about the presence of pickpockets in the trains are not terribly effective since it is at Antwerp station that the thieves are said to have taken action.
The three men approached four women, they allegedly managed to steal the wallet of one of them.
One station later, at Barbès, they left the metro.
They were arrested a few minutes later on Boulevard Barbès (Paris 18th century), not without difficulty.
Other police officers arrived as reinforcements to control them.
The three men, aged 29, 30 and 44, were taken into police custody.
The oldest was the subject of research files.
These natives of Cameroon are also subject to prosecution for illegal stay.
The stolen wallet was returned to the 63-year-old American passenger, who filed a complaint.