Plainclothes police officers catch pickpockets who stole purse with 2,000 euros in Malaga city
The officers followed the three suspects after watching them allegedly target an elderly woman among a group of tourists
Irene Quirante
Three people have been arrested after plainclothes police officers caught them in the act stealing a tourist's purse containing 2,000 euros in Malaga city.
An off-duty Local Police officer first alerted his colleagues on 9 November when he saw three people - two men and a women - behaving suspiciously near a crowd of tourists.
Plainclothes officers were then deployed to the area on Avenida Manuel Agustín Heredia and started watching them. The suspects, pretending to be tourists themselves, went to Plaza de la Marina to select their victims among a large group of visitors, including several elderly people. Officers watched as the suspects stole a red bag out of a woman's backpack and then fled towards Paseo del Parque.
The officers caught up with them and found a purse with 2,000 euros inside the bag, as well as a thousand dollars, two passports and more money from Malaysia, where the tourist was from. The alleged thieves - all of Romanian nationality - were arrested.
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