Notorious London pickpocket gang ‘hid in plain sight’ living on quiet street

Nestled on a quiet north London street, two of the city’s notorious pickpockets were hiding in plain sight.

Every morning, Elena Venkova and Elena Mitkova, 34 and 26 respectively, would buy a Redbull from their local corner shop in Edmonton before spending hours in central London ‘doing god knows what’.

‘They even tried to steal from me once,’ the shopkeeper told Metro. ‘But I caught them in the act and they never tried me again.’

But on Oxford Street, the pair, along with friend Malinka Georgieva, stole a woman’s handbag worth £1,000 in August.

And just two years ago, Georgieva pleaded guilty to theft and was given a nine-month suspended sentence, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

All three were jailed for a combined total of 51 weeks in September for theft after their Oxford Street capture, but neighbours of Venkova and Mitkova say they have been ‘hiding in plain sight’ .

When Metro visited the quiet street, we found rows of neatly kept houses in front of family-sized cars.

And neighbours were quick to tell us, although they had not always felt at ease with the women, there was nothing to suggest any criminal activity.

One woman, shocked when we told her about the pickpockets, said: ‘They were always very neatly dressed with nice makeup. Goes to show you don’t know who is hiding on your street.

‘But trust me, this is a family place. And people will not be happy when this gets out.

‘When they come out of jail, I will grip onto my bag around them, even just to make a point.’

The shopkeeper who works around the corner accused the pair of trying to steal cans of coffee, which were around the back of his store.

He explained that after this, the pair ‘did not try and steal from him again’ but would come to his shop every morning to buy a Red Bull and then head into central London. And they would not return until the evening.

‘It was obvious they did not get up to good,’ he said.

Other residents complained the house would see many different people enter and leave the house at antisocial hours, with multiple men also living on the property.

During their arrest, Londoners swarmed around to get a glimpse of the trio arrested on one of the city’s busiest streets.

Police said Georgieva grabbed the purse, while Mitkova and Venkova used an umbrella to obstruct the view of passers-by.

But all three were immediately arrested at the scene.

Paul Brown, who captured the footage, told Metro: ‘A group of police officers rushed towards three women near the entrance of Selfridges, and within moments, it became clear they were being arrested for suspected pickpocketing.’

Sergeant Dominic Corcoran of the Met’s West End Town Centre Team said: ‘This is a really positive result and great work by Met Police officers, who utilised additional specialist training to identify the unusual behaviour and techniques used by these thieves who were targeting unsuspected victims in the West End.

‘This plain clothes deployment was part of a wider operation using intelligence and statistics to deploy officers to the worst affected areas, which since the beginning of the year, has led to more than 100 theft-related arrests and prison terms totalling more than seven-and-a-half years for those responsible.

‘Our hard work continues and we remain committed to removing thieves from our streets so we can make the West End a safer place for everyone.’

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