A 28-year-old Cuban was arrested in Italy along with two Peruvian citizens for their alleged involvement in two thefts from women aged 66 and 86 through the so-called "coin trick," a form of deception used to distract victims and steal their belongings.
The arrests took place on Friday, October 23, in the province of Siena, in the Italian region of Tuscany. The police provided new details about the case on Thursday, October 29
According to a report by Il Cittadino Online, the other detainees are a 40-year-old man from Peru and a 25-year-old woman of the same nationality.
How did the coin deception work?
The investigation began when a 66-year-old woman reported that her handbag had been stolen from a car parked in front of a tobacco shop in the town of Due Ponti, near Siena.
According to the police reconstruction, a man and a woman got out of a black car and stood near the establishment, watching the victim's movements.
When the woman returned to her vehicle, one of the suspects approached the window and pointed to several coins lying on the ground, making her believe that she had accidentally dropped them.
The woman got out of the car to pick them up, and while she was distracted, a second person allegedly opened the door on the opposite side and grabbed her bag.
The individuals involved are said to have left the location in a black car driven by a third person.
The cameras allowed for the location of the car
After receiving the report, agents from the Siena Highway Police reviewed the recordings from the security cameras and managed to identify the vehicle allegedly used.
The information was relayed to the operations room of the Police Headquarters, while investigators from the Mobile Brigade tracked the movements of the vehicle using the city and province's surveillance systems.
The vehicle was located shortly after in the municipality of Colle di Val d'Elsa.
According to authorities, the occupants attempted to evade police control but were ultimately intercepted.
During the search, the agents found personal items linked to the first complainant and a plastic bag containing documents and belongings of another woman, aged 86.
The investigations revealed that this second woman had also reported a similar theft in the parking lot of a supermarket in Colle di Val d'Elsa.
Detainees are prohibited from returning to the locations where the events took place
After the initial investigations, the three suspects were arrested for alleged aggravated theft in conjunction, a concept in Italian criminal law that involves the joint participation of several individuals.
After the hearing to validate the arrests, a judge ordered as a precautionary measure the obligation to remain in the municipality of Roma, where the individuals under investigation reside.
Additionally, the police chief of Siena, Ugo Angeloni, ordered that the three individuals be banned from returning to Siena and Colle di Val d'Elsa for four years.
The judicial measure is not equivalent to a conviction. The criminal responsibility of those being investigated will be determined during the corresponding legal proceedings.
The case was also reported by Radio Siena TV and other regional media.
Related videos:
Filed under: