Who are the Barking con artists?

A GANG OF three con artists stage a distraction theft in the Natwest Bank on East Street, Barking in September – and police are trying to identify and locate the suspects.

It was around noon on 16th September 2017 when an unsuspecting woman, 47, joined the queue in the bank. Another woman in the queue began talking to her – but as she did so, a man quickly removed and envelope from the unsuspecting woman’s bag.

The three conspiring thieves then left the bank – and when the woman reached the cashier, when her turn came, she realised the envelope had gone. It had contained £920.

The police investigation is being run by the Metropolitan Police East Area Crime Command. They have now released CCTV footage of the gang at work and have appealed to the public for help in tracing them.

The CCTV footage shows:
•Suspect One – an Asian woman, aged in her 20s with long straight brown hair. She was wearing a grey beanie hat, grey top, grey tracksuit trousers and black shoes.
•Suspect Two – a man of Eastern European appearance, aged in his 30s, with short black hair and a short black beard. He was wearing a cream-coloured T-shirt, blue jeans and blue trainers with white soles.
•Suspect Three – an Asian man, aged in his 30s, with receding short dark hair. He was wearing a black baseball cap, a dark-coloured body warmer, grey tracksuit trousers and white trainers.

PC Matthew Trenfield-Brown said, “This was a devious theft where the victim appears to have been targeted and fallen victim to a planned distraction theft, with three people seemingly working together to commit the offence. We are appealing for any information as to the identity of these three suspects.”

•Anyone who can help identify these three heartless thieves is asking to contact the East Area Command via 101. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111, where you can give information anonymously.

•Read more about it:
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Police seek Ilford gang in pensioner robbery

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