There have been 1,892 cases of pick pocketing in Malta in the year 2016, according to Minister Carmelo Abela who was answering to parliamentary question from MP Silvio Schembri.
This year there have been a total of 31 persons accused of the offence and were called to court, six of whom were Maltese, with the other 25 coming from Bulgaria (13), Romania (8), Somalia (2), Mexico (1) and Spain (1)

The previous year saw a total of 2030 cases of pick pocketing, in the year only 8 persons were called to court, one of which was Maltese, the rest were Bulgarian (3), Romanian (2) and Libyan (2).