It`s about time ............. http://www.connexionfrance.com/paris...w-article.html

Good. Let's hope Spain follows suit.

That's good news, that Paris has followed the Lead of Athens in combating a crime that targets tourists.

Greece has always had a lower crime rate than the rest of Europe, so it was dismaying when about 4 years ago, pickpocketing became big news, mainly on one line of the Metro at at a couple of usually-crowded landmark Athens sites, such as "changing of the Guard" at the Syntagma Square, in front of the Parliament. The Metro line that was plagued was the one coming from the Port, which is packed with tourists coming from ferries or cruise ships.

Therefore it was major and welcomed news in late May 2010 when Greek police succeeded in rounding up a 70-person pickpocketing gang (all but 1 of them either Bulgarian or Romanian) that they believe was responsible for the majority of the increased pickpocket statistics in the sites mentioned.

The Paris ring seems to come from similar areas, with an even darker twist -- terrorizing young girls unless they met their daily quota of thefts. It looks as if some Eastern European criminal elements have decided that, rather than victimizing their own nations, to instead "go where the money is" -- tourists in major capitals. Major-city police departments all over Europe need to learn from this to combat these petty-crime rings that harm tourism.

A closer reading of the article indicates that France is not necessarily following Greece's May 2010 arrests since it has been working on the problem for three years, and that it is not an exclusively French undertaking since it has been working with Italian and Spanish authorities and some arrests took place in Italy.

Also glad to read this, especially as they nabbed the ringleaders. However, as important as the arrests are, it's just one step - hoping to hear down the road about their convictions, large fines (not to mention asset seizures) and stiff prison sentences.