15 pregnant Gypsies rob foreigners in St. robbers

On May 24 the police of St. Petersburg arrested 15 women, Gypsies by nationality. They are suspected of robbing foreign citizens and stealing money from them. Each of the 15 women is in late stage of pregnancy, and for this reason they all were sent to maternity ward in ambulance vehicles. Several of them are minors.

Meanwhile, this is not the first group of Gypsies arrested by St. Petersburg police lately. 15 more Gypsies, including women and children, were brought to the Central police station, they were suspected of stealing money from the citizens of Sweden, 2 elderly ladies and one man. When the Swedes were walking near the Hermitage Museum, a crowd of Gypsy kids and women approached them. The foreigners were stunned, and after the Gypsies left, the tourists found that $200, 400 Euro and several thousand Russian roubles were missing. A museum employee later found the empty purse belonging to Swedes.

According to the police, the Gypsies suspected of these crimes came to St. Petersburg from Ukraine. St. Peterburg police cannot afford deporting them back in Ukraine.

There are Tajik Gypsies in St. Petersbug’s streets as well, but they are mainly begging for money, and are involved in neither stealing nor robberies. Local Gypsies from St. Petersburg are quite law-abiding citizens, they have been living in the city for a long time and have permanent apartments and families. There are several camps of Tajik and Ukrainian Gypsies in St. Petersburg outskirt of 200-300 people in each camp.

The Gypsies were arrested after the city police started special operation called “Gypsy Camp”. The police operation was conducted because more and more foreigners are either robbed or had their money stolen by Gypsies.

Elena Gusarenko