fionamw

I accept it's clearly an opinion, however this comment bears out observations about generalisations.

It's not only 'obvious' tourists who get targeted by metro gangs, there have been plenty of posts within the forum about locals (both Spanish & others) being the victims of muggings.


Maybe, just maybe, that's one of the more pertinent observations?

missile

I did not suggest crime was restricted to tourists but have never seen any reports of street beggars being mugged .

I would suggest that organised criminals will target those who look vulnerable and like they have something worth stealing. Conversely, petty criminals frequently strike close to home and crime can be high in less affluent neighbourhoods.

JLFS

One of the reasons that beggars have not been mugged is because a lot of beggars are part of an organised gang.

They work in shifts on the pitch and borrow one of the babies or whatever is needed to pull the heart strings. The money is pooled and they have full protection of othere gang members, who sometimes hang around to watch iwhen folks give money and sometimes take note of how full their walledt is, to try and "take it" off them later. (not all beggars do this) but the EE are a very organised lot and have revolutionised begging)

A friend of mine is a mechanic, and he knows loads of beggars, they go to him to repair their cars, all good makes Mercs BMWs, Audis, and big 4x4s.

There have been loads of documentaries on TV on this subject.

Also there are gangs like this everywhere in Spain, I am not saying that they are all from EE,
For every 1 tourist that is mugged or robbed, there will be 20 Spanish.

A elderly relative of mine had her handbag snatched fro the supermarkek carpark in Coruna, she was with another elderly lady, a boy of about 7 was used to distract them by asking them if they had dropped something.

They were going to tell the security guards but they were suddenly surrounded by a gang, and they were told that it would be bettir if they kept their mouth shut and did not go to the police as they had noted the registration of their car.

They did not report the robbery, because they were afraid for reprisals.

So you dont have to look like a tourist in a tourist area, to be a victim of these organised gangs, but of course that is where the richer pickings are.

Below is a link to a story in the UK, gangs in Spain are no less organised than this family, although never been aressted.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...commuters.html

pete_l

Ahh, that's the problem. Most stores sell dead chickens
My experience of spanish supermarkets is that they have much higher security that british ones do - or need. None of the bigger ones I've been to will let you take an unsealed shopping bag into the store. Either you have to leave it in a locker by the entrance, or sometimes they seal your bag in plastic. Plus they all seem to have security guards by the door - which is not something I see anywhere in Britian, except crime hot-spots like south London (where shoppers get killed for suspected queue-jumping).

agoreira

Shoppers plural? Is that a regular occurrence then? I seem to vaguely remember one case where an argument started but I didn't know it was a regular thing. I also know of a case of a beggar sleeping in a telephone booth in Barcelona, minding her own business, being beaten up and killed by setting fire to her. I didn't think it was a regular thing, perhaps I should say Barcelona is where they set fire to and kill beggars. They also set fire to them in Córdoba, so perhaps it's catching on.

cricketman

A couple in Fuengirola got an axe through the head.

Maybe it's their crime gang bosses, out for revenge after the begger failed to make their daily begging target!

missile

We are all entitled to an opinion, but do you have any evidence to support these claims?
like 25%, 50%, 75% ????? Very few of the beggars I have seen are EE origin. Are you suggesting that the hispanic beggars work for an EE mafia ring?

Where do you get this .........? Have you never seen a spanish tourist?

JLFS

If you mean evidence as in googled stuff, no I dont, I go by what I see on my travels and speaking to my family and such.

And I am taliking about people who can spot a S. Am accent from an EE accent.

And I meant that for every victim that is a tourist in Spain there lots more victims that are Spanish (because this is happening in all regions of Spain not just the costa tourist aread)

And I dont get the "Have you never seen a Spanish tourist remark."

jackytoo

They have set a few beggars on fire in Málaga too,gets about 2 lines in the paper. Easy to blame the EE for all the crime, they just added to the ones already there!

missile

As I said JLFS, you are entitled to your opinion. My observation is that most beggers are not EE decent and I find it very hard to believe they are organised by EE mafia.

Most spaniards go on holiday and in my experience it is quiet easy to spot a madrilenos "tourist"

I never said it was just costa tourist area problem. Indeed, I never said it was a particular problem there either! IMHO very few areas in the world are crime free.

expatasia

I would have happily set alight (given the chance) the vermin in the train who went for my missus & my wallet but moving things on a bit how have you found the attitude of the police in dealing with any incidents of crime? Any other experiences with the old bill?

cricketman

The most crime free areas in the world are those which have the least difference between incomes.

i.e. in Spain a very well-off city such as Oviedo or San Sebastian or a poor village in the middle of nowhere have low crime. There is very little crime in most Africa countries because there is very little to steal

The 2 countries with the highest rate of crime in the world are the UK and US.

HBG

Now that we're discussing crime more openly, I know a family of five Spanish gypsy pick-pockets who operate at Alicante and Torrevieja bus stations and tourist spots. I've observed them many times and they are experts. There are four women and an elderly man, they all look related, I suspect the old man and woman are grandparents and they are out with one daughter and her two children in their late teens.

One of the young daughters has a child in a buggy and detracts the victim, the other young daughter steals the purse which is passed to the mother, and then the grandmother who disappears with it. The old man keeps watch. The signals they use is hand-claps, three rapid ones mean that the police are around, I'm not sure of the others.

The last time I spotted them was outside a bookshop and my wife was buying me a birthday card in the shop. I was in a cafe opposite and the old man was standing in the cafe doorway.

I knew that my wife had just been to the cashpoint and went outside to tell the old man to call off his troops. He gave me a funny look and told me to F*** off. He's only about five feet tall.

i could see my wife come out of the bookshop and the young woman with the buggy was approaching her. Just before running across the road, I told the old man to call off his granddaughter. I heard three loud claps as I dodged the traffic and when I got to my wife the girl with the buggy was running down the street.

When I turned round the old man had disappeared. As we went back to the cafe to finish my coffee, I saw the grandmother sitting in the corner. She gave me a dirty look and one of those dismissive arm movements, but then scarpered to find the others.

I was able to save my wife on this occasion, but on her last birthday she went into town to buy herself a new digital camera and came back with neither the camera nor her purse.

jackytoo

There is a lot of crime in Africa, just that it goes unreported. Stealing someones goat etc. Some of those countries the Police don't have a car, they get dropped off for their shift. Things are so bad some of the biggest robbers are the Police!

missile

You may well be correct. I would not wish to live in Bogata or Mexico City or Marseille or Bangkok