I was robbed on the metro in Madrid - by a Romanian youth .. he reached into my coat pocket and took out my Louis Vuitton coin purse. He handed it off to his buddy who went running out the metro doors when they opened. An old women seated near me got my attention and whispered "chorizo" to me. I turned around and grabbed the guy by his jacket and wouldnt let him leave. My reaction was a total shock to me as I would NEVER have thought I would have done that. I was so mad I started yelling at the guy in English ... something to the effect of how the &^%$#$@@ dare you? - I made such a racket that someone told the driver and he stopped the metro keeping the doors close until the police arrived. They arrested him but my LV coin purse was long gone... I still have the wallet, purse and check book cover but I am missing my coin purse. When they arrested him they found 7 other wallets, ID's and DNI's on him - My favorite part was that when he was handcuffed and being led out of the metro station the thief started to smoke a cigarette... I reminded the cop there was no smoking in the metro and the cop smacked the back of the guys head and his cigarette went flying ... that was the highlight of the experience -.... when I began to giggle the thief looked and me and said "beach" I think he was trying to call me a ***** but didnt have it quite right. About a year later I got a summons to go to court and I did and testified and he was deported. I still have my summons in my scrapbook :-)

...CascadaDuSel....way to go !!...keep up the good work....just one thing missing, you should have kicked him in the 'you know what'.

nice going CascadaDuSel,way to go!!!

one less to worry about in Madrid. Thanks

I was in Madrid recently, I wasn't robbed, but I found it was necessary to carry my bills concealed in my bra!!,
MS FOOTE

CascadaDuSel ... I've been meaning to comment on your post for ages ! Like everyone else I should start by saying well done .. Even though you lost your property the guy was caught and HOW SPANISH was the episode with the cigarette jajaja !
But Madrid is like any major city in terms of petty crime .. My home city of London , Paris ,Moscow , New York etc.... all have their problems .
I've lived in Madrid for 2 years now and had my wallet stolen in Puerta del Sol ... It had about 700 Euros in and credit cards ( I was paying some bills ) . I , stupidly , had my wallet in my back pocket , and though it was hidden by a coat , the thieves managed to swipe it .
I've never had a problem since .
My experience was "good" in that i had to go to a Central police station to report it and , though my Spanish is "ok" , they assigned me an English speaking officer to complete the reports . The police here in Madrid are excellent ( I've had contact with Policia municipal, Cuerpo Nacional de Policia , And the Guardia Civil... ) .
For UK citizens ( and maybe other European Union nations ) , your travel insurance or even credit card insurance should reimburse you a large amount of what you lost ( I got back about 600 Euros of the cash stolen ) . You MUST , however, report the incident to the police immediately you realise what's happened .

That is one for good guys! The word "beach" translates to his worst nightmare when his was kicked out of the country.

Bill

I remember when I was a kid living in Madrid , we were at the jumbo supermarket on pioX11 , and a couple of gypsy kids had been caught stealing . The security guy just picked them upside down and shook them like something out of a cartoon . 25 years later that image is still imprinted on my brain

From my many years of travelling. Railway stations seem to attract of petty criminals. I have seen no statistics showing Spain to be any better or worse. The key anywhere is to be alert.
Cheers Aussieflyer

It's true. You ALWAYS have to be careful, not only in train stations but also, maybe more, in bus stations. I've yet to become a victim of crime in Spain but one unsuccessful attempt was made to take my laptop computer in a bus station bathroom (in Alicante).

I always try to "hook" or "wrap" the straps of my bags around other bags or around some immovable object like a table leg or chair.

Saludos, MadridMan

Joe , we should have MORE of that direct action ! I saw one drunk guy holding up traffic in Bilbao's main street .. The Basque police turned up , shouted at him ( no response ) , knocked him to the ground and dragged him off the road . I like that ! Steve