The number of pickpocket thefts in Paris has rocketed 33 per cent since the start of the year, with tourists the prime prey of gangs of mainly Eastern European minors, according to police.

Public transport authorities accounted the worrying rise to security agents being overwhelmed by violent yellow vest protesters in the French capital in recent months. They also blamed the rise on the difficulty in prosecuting, or expelling where applicable, the foreign, underage thieves they do catch.

The situation has got so bad that metro drivers now regularly make announcements to passengers when they detect gangs of pickpockets entering a train, telling them to hold tight to their belongings.

According to police cited by Le Parisien, gangs of mainly young girls, numbering between five to ten, pounce on a carriage when they spot unsuspecting tourists.

Locals are wise to their methods and simply leave a carriage when they arrive or stick to the walls. “Tourists come all the time but are loathe to file a legal complaint because they don’t want to waste time,” one public transport employee told the paper.

“We phone the police to come and intervene but as the thieves know perfectly their rights, they say they are minors and they are let go within 15 minutes.”