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Undercover film exposes ‘Fagin school’ teaching Bulgarians to pick YOUR pocket: Criminal svengali shows young proteges how to 'dip'... before they come to Britain
A black Mercedes slows to a halt and the driver hurries to open the door for his celebrated passenger.
The tip of a walking stick appears first, then, as it finds the pavement, lean fingers decorated with jewelled rings can be seen gripping its handle.
After a few moments the stick is followed by its owner – a matriarchal old lady wrapped against the winter chill in a thick blue cardigan.
She pulls herself upright as children greet her with cries of delight and a young man obligingly takes her arm.
In this quiet residential district on the fringes of the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora, 77-year-old Donka Panova is everyone’s favourite Roma grandmother and much revered.
But don’t be fooled by her congenial smile and, above all, don’t get too close . . . she is also Bulgaria’s grande dame of pickpocketing and proud of her sobriquet, Golden Hands.
Down the years Golden Hands has schooled hundreds of children, including her 30 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, in the intricacies of her criminal art – and many of her graduates are now planning to travel to Britain in the New Year when restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants are lifted.
Sitting in a cafe, her grandson Gospodin Panov, 26, emits a low whistle as he contemplates the rich pickings. ‘All those people in London packed on Underground trains with their arms in the air. It will be too easy!’
Undercover film exposes 'Fagin school' teaching Bulgarians to pick YOUR pocket: Criminal svengali shows young proteges how to 'dip'... before they come to Britain | Mail Online
Die Gesichter dieser Leute sagen eigentlich schon alles ...
A black Mercedes slows to a halt and the driver hurries to open the door for his celebrated passenger.
The tip of a walking stick appears first, then, as it finds the pavement, lean fingers decorated with jewelled rings can be seen gripping its handle.
After a few moments the stick is followed by its owner – a matriarchal old lady wrapped against the winter chill in a thick blue cardigan.
She pulls herself upright as children greet her with cries of delight and a young man obligingly takes her arm.
In this quiet residential district on the fringes of the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora, 77-year-old Donka Panova is everyone’s favourite Roma grandmother and much revered.
But don’t be fooled by her congenial smile and, above all, don’t get too close . . . she is also Bulgaria’s grande dame of pickpocketing and proud of her sobriquet, Golden Hands.
Down the years Golden Hands has schooled hundreds of children, including her 30 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, in the intricacies of her criminal art – and many of her graduates are now planning to travel to Britain in the New Year when restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants are lifted.
Sitting in a cafe, her grandson Gospodin Panov, 26, emits a low whistle as he contemplates the rich pickings. ‘All those people in London packed on Underground trains with their arms in the air. It will be too easy!’
Undercover film exposes 'Fagin school' teaching Bulgarians to pick YOUR pocket: Criminal svengali shows young proteges how to 'dip'... before they come to Britain | Mail Online
Die Gesichter dieser Leute sagen eigentlich schon alles ...
