A thief was tracked down after he stole the bag of a Barcelona beach-goer within the background of a reside tv information broadcast.

Police mentioned that they had been in a position to determine the offender after reviewing footage shot by a group from Spain’s TVE state broadcaster who unwittingly recorded the theft whereas filming an interview with a vacationer.

Because the vacationer explains on digicam why he loves Barcelona for its “lovely seashore and clear, chilly water”, the thief might be seen snatching an unattended bag from the sand and making off with it, seemingly oblivious of the presence of the TV crew.

Virtually instantly, in the identical sequence, the proprietor of the lacking bag enters the shot, realises his bag has vanished and begins trying to find it.

The Guardia Urbana later introduced that that they had been in a position to return a few of the stolen possessions to their proprietor and acknowledged the blissful accident of the crime being aired on reside TV.

“Due to a video printed […] on social media and the sufferer’s grievance, in the present day we recognized and charged the perpetrator of a theft on Sant Miquel seashore,” Barcelona’s Guàrdia Urbana police power mentioned on Sunday.

Barcelona has gained a popularity as a hotspot for road crime in latest many years. Based on police figures, 34,000 thefts had been reported within the metropolis between January and the top of Could, round 225 per day. Throughout the identical interval, a median of 27 situations of violent theft akin to mugging had been additionally recorded. Each figures are effectively up on the previous two years however consistent with 2019, earlier than the pandemic and the steep drop in vacationer numbers.

Police mentioned that they had made simply over 900 arrests in reference to thefts within the first 5 months of the 12 months.

One of many primary focuses of road crime in Barcelona this 12 months has been watch thefts, prompting Catalonia’s regional police power to create a unit to regulate gangs of so-called “relojeros”.

The Telegraph, London