We were robbed this morning.

[DFW]

81. It happens here all the time, too

It has gotten much worse ever since Schengen opened the borders. Citizens of former socialist countries that already had organized crime syndicates (the only way to get around the restrictions on life there at the time) are having a field day in western Europe. Germany and Austria are prime targets, and even the normally tranquil Swiss are suddenly finding themselves with their hands full. Europe is so small that bands based in Poland, the Czech Republic and the former Yugoslavia can pick out their marks, bring in the specialists who do their jobs, hand off the loot to designated fences and/or chop shops, collect enough pay to live very well in their home countries for months, and be home by dinner the next day. The Germans had an expression about stolen cars: "heute gestohlen, morgen in Polen." Stolen today, in Poland tomorrow--although with their Ukrainian and Russian customers temporarily out of the picture, that particular branch is probably experiencing a small recession.

A few years ago, there was a particularly brutal break-in band from Serbia that was operating in Germany. They tried to wait until the house or apartment was empty, but if their information was faulty, they systematically killed everyone they found so there would be no witnesses. They botched one murder and left one witness alive, and that is how they were identified and caught. So many Romanians have been caught, they must have a special university there that teaches the art of theft in its various forms. There is one place or band that actually teaches its "students" to slice open back pockets and backpacks with razor blades, and when they can do it without the victim noticing, they are sent to the west. It usually minors that are caught, so all the Germans can do is send them home. Lebanese and Albanian clans operate here as well, but they generally prefer to victimize their own people here in Germany.