According to the Vanguardia today pickpockets are leaving the previously lucrative Killing Fields of Lines 1 and 3 to hit the tourists as they wait for Metros on Line 5 especially at stations Sagrada Familia, Diagonal and Verdageur. One of Line 5's advantages as far as robbing is concerned is that the trains are nearly always full and people have to push up against one another to get in so it's difficult to feel those probing experienced hands searching for wallets, money and credit cards.
My recent experiences on lines 3 and 1 apparently are all too common. The modus operandi varies but basically is the same. Pick a victim. Surround him. Distract him. Pick his pocket. Get away from the area. Return later and start all over again. I was picked out near Drassaanes. As I exited a large man o9n the platform blocked my exit while another behind me got my wallet. I was distracted as I asked the man to move out of the way- which he did once they had got my wallet. Luckily I realised what had happened and chased the man who had been behind me on the Metro. He gave me back the wallet and walked off. I checked it and then thumped him hard as I was angry ( probably a stupid thing to do!)
Last week on Line 3 I was on a crowded escalator when a small woman pushed in front of me. When we got to the top she dropped some coffee beans on the floor and stopped to picj them up while another woman tried (in vain) to get my wallet. A few minutes later at the top of another esclator a man stopped in front of me. I glanced behind me and saw the coffee bean woman so I continued walking 'through' the crouching man knocking him over. People behind trampled on him too!
Apparently both these methods are very commonly used but of course tourists may not know this. The Metro staff (drivers) have even taken to using megaphones to warn people about the presence of groups that look suspicious at key platforms like Diagonal. A bit like huntsmen blowing the trumpet when they see fox!
Barcelona is trying to do something about it though.A new plain clothes force will be patrolling the Metro and its platforms this summer and will beactive
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