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Police: Int'l pickpocket gang operates in Australia

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-19 17:51

CANBERRA -- Australian police said on Thursday two Eastern European women visited Australia on travel visas believed to be part of a professional pickpocket gang responsible for a spike in thefts in Sydney.

"After much painstaking work ... we identified a number of persons who we believe are working as part of an organized team," Detective Inspector Peter Houlahan told reporters in Sydney.

An increase of about 30 percent in thefts in the Sydney CBD in January and February prompted an investigation, with police scouring surveillance footage from retail stores in the city and Parramatta, Houlahan was quoted by Australian Associated Press as said.

"We could be talking about a couple of groups but we don't know, we haven't got those specifics," Houlahan said.

The pair, aged 26 and 34, were arrested in a George Street clothes shop on Sunday and have each been charged with two counts of larceny.

Inspector Houlahan has rejected to disclose which country the women arrested on Sunday were from, but said they had been in Australia for between one and two months on a three-month travel visa.

They have been refused bail and were due to face Central Local Court on Friday.