A 33-year-old Romanian man today was sentenced to seven months effective imprisonment after having admitted pick-pocketing a mobile phone worth about €1,000 in a Paceville nightclub.

The man was arrested together with another Romanian national, a 30-year-old man, while being found in possession of the stolen phone some time after the theft had occurred. The 30-year-old pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

Having heard and taken into account the prosecution’s submissions on the extent of damages being caused to innocent citizens by what were described as roaming organized criminals depleting victims, mostly tourists of their possessions, the court claimed that the most suitable punishment would be effective imprisonment, the police said in a statement.

Aware of the increasing tendency of mobile groups, roaming throughout the European Union for the sole purpose of committing similar crimes, the police has recently embarked on intensive investigations to tackle this crime. This is also possible thanks to the existent framework decisions aimed at enhancing mutual assistance and sharing of information amongst police agencies in EU states.