INTERNATIONAL CROOKS INVASION OF LONDON

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6885, 15 April 1929, Page 5

INTERNATIONAL CROOKS INVASION O F LONDON

London at the moment appears to be the meeting place for a congress of international crooks, stated a writer in the ‘Daily Mail’ towards tho end of February. British and American travellers who frequent the highways of travel on the Continent and on the Atlantic have been amazed to see so many familiar faces —faces known equally well to Scotland Yard and the police of other countries —in the West End hotels and bars at the present time. They are naturally asking why so many of them are here, and who they are doing. A residue of notorious characters is always to be found in the popular resorts of London, but the number in them now is far beyond the normal. In one well-known bar the other day there were five men with international criminal records. One was a blackmailer who usually operates with a pretty woman as his accomplice, and sometimes a third person as welb His companion on this occasion was a young man from the dominions whose nefarious activities have been officially noted in ships in the tropics and the Mediterranean. Preying on Women. Near them were two suave individuals of Levantine origin who specialise in preying on credulous women tourists who travel alone. The fifth was an elderly, red-faced man with a breezy manner, to become a retired Australian sheep farmer witfi a fortune to spend on charity or a shy and rather bewildered New Zealander anxious to be shown London by a wealthy American. The two first-named crooks were still sipping their midday cocktails when a Scotland Yard detective strolled in. Before he had ordered his drink they had slipped unobstrusively away. Pose as Ex-Officers. These predatory adventurers are always well dressed, plausible, and well schooled in their various roles. The. British type often pose as an ex-officer. Others are racing “experts” who profess to include among their friends many prominent men. Some of them “work” with women, who haunt the public rooms of hotels most frequented by foreigners. Tho women arc expensively attired, always attractive, and ready to pilot a likely “client” to a fiat w'here he can play poker or meet “charming people.” Train Swindler. Certain international crooks now wintering in tho West End are usually to be found on the Riviera or in Cliiro at this season of the year. They are well known in the international trains de luxe —even between Victoria and Paris—where they endeavour to make the acquaintance of reputable well-to-do travellers. More than one big coup in the south of France has been carefully prepared in a London hotel or bar, where tho victim has been under careful observation. Touts for share pushers also use these resorts.