Man jailed for high-value luggage theft – Samantha Archer appeared for the Crown
Bilal Arbaoui, an Algerian migrant, tailed Jumama Zaida as she left St Pancras Station in April. An accomplice told her she had a stain on her clothing and offered her a tissue in a bid to distract her. As she wiped her trousers, Arbaoui used the opportunity to steal Ms Zaida’s gold Rimowa case, which can cost upwards of £1,000.
Ms Archer told the court that the suitcase has not been recovered but it contained ‘many high value items’ including Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery which police have indicated the total value could have been up to £175,000.
Jailing the defendant to 22 months in prison, the Judge David Richards said, ‘You were at St Pancras that day, working with two colleagues as a team looking for someone to steal from.
‘I have no doubt whatsoever that the fact of the Eurostar terminal being there presented you and your colleagues with the hope of rich pickings from arrivals to this country unfamiliar with the layout and perhaps not concentrating as they might otherwise be.
‘Whilst one of you distracted her and by a ruse got her to take her hand off that smaller bag you swept in and removed it before she could do a thing.
‘This was a confident planned and proficient theft operation’.
The defendant has no legitimate status in the UK. He served a 12-week sentence last year for similar offences carried out on December 19, 2024 and January 18, 2025, which the judge said exhibited ‘exactly the same method of working as you demonstrated here’.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16034901/thief-luggage-woman-trousers-dirty-London-train.html
