A specialist pickpocket squad which targets thieves operating on the London Underground is to be axed in a shake-up of policing on the railways.

The so-called Dip Squad which has clocked up hundreds of arrests of pickpockets in recent years is to be disbanded at the end of the week.

The move by British Transport Police echoes a decision last year to axe another specialist squad investigating sex attacks on the Tube.

That decision was later reversed after outrage over the move when it was revealed by the Standard.

Today British Transport Police said the Dip Squad was not getting disbanded “as such” but their work was being divided between two teams.

A spokeswoman said: ”We’ll have a dedicated team of detectives responsible for investigating theft of passenger property in London and the South East.

“We’ll have six ‘proactive’ teams in London, responsible for carrying out patrols to target offenders and reduce crime. Previously, all of this work was the responsibility of the Dip Squad.”

The specialist unit deploys officers in plain clothes who are trained to spot suspicious behaviour and who are expert at spotting the tactics and faces of the pickpocketing gangs.

Police say there is an annual issue with pickpocket gangs arriving in London for the “summer season” and targeting particular events such as Wimbledon.

During the 2012 Olympics, the force deployed uniform patrols to deter pickpocketing but also used the covert Dip Squad officers to spot the pickpocket gangs.

Insiders say pickpockets are either home grown or from Eastern Europe with some gangs travelling from South America to target London.

One source said : “These are gangs that will turn up in Barcelona or Paris, they travel wherever there are rich pickings.”

The decision to disband the unit emerged on Twitter when the squad tweeted this week: “We have just arrested a Dip #Holborn after we saw him steal a phone from a lone female. Could be our last one, I am going to miss this.”

However, the decision to axe the squad was greeted with concern on Twitter with one commentator saying: “Bonkers to disband them. @btp declaring open season on commuters by professional pickpockets.”

Rory Geoghegan, a former Met officer and the head of criminal justice at the Centre for Social Justice think tank, said: “Theft from passengers is BTP’s single biggest crime problem in London and we know that proactive policing by the Met has cut pickpocketing above ground on Oxford Street by as much as 50 per cent.

“It’s therefore alarming to see a further erosion of highly effective proactive policing in the capital.”

Last year a gang of pickpockets were jailed for a total of 30 years after making £5million from stealing mobile phones from commuters on the Tube.

The 11 thieves earned almost £10,000 a day targeting commuters and police recovered 1,000 phones in raids on their homes. Ringleader Nawid Moshfiq, 39, of Brentford, West London, was handed five years at Blackfriars crown court.

BTP said the decision to split the unit into two teams was part of a consultation document on a shake-up on policing the railways published last year.