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Geneva, March 23, 2009 -- Insecurity in Geneva, but also other Swiss and French towns in the region, has been growing over the past several years. This includes a rise in burglaries, car thefts and other methods of robbery, such as baggage swiping on trains at the main railway station or at the airport. Notable, however, is an upfront form of robbery known as the “Zidane Move.”This is an old trick used by thieves to steal wallets or cellphones. These attacks are aimed mainly at men and are increasingly on the rise. The Essential Edge has now interviewed over a dozen people who have recently fallen for this trick.

The Zidane move usually occurs in crowded places or in areas where thieves have marked someone who has had  one too many drinks. In the majority of cases, the assailants consist of a group of three or more individuals focusing on a potential victim.

One of them asks you a question while another comes up to you on the other side, saying something like:“do you like football?” Regardless how you respond, they will put a foot in front of yours and wriggle it around saying this is how Zidane or Ronaldinho do their moves. While you remain distracted, another assailant makes his move by surreptitiously slipping a hand into your pockets, ending up with your wallet or phone. They then flee before you can react.

Most of these thieves are young adolescents, also known as Rakais, dressed in casual hip-hop clothing. They usually come from across the French border and cannot be traced afterwards. The main areas in Geneva where these incidents have occurred are around the train station, the Old Town and long the lake front.

Other forms of theft, usually by Polish or other East European gangs that operate in the railway stations, such as Geneva, Lausanne and Yverdon, also involve distraction. These usually occur late at night when you are tired and there are not many people on the platforms. One accomplice moves through the train as it waits in the station looking for a likely mark, or victim. He then signals to a second on the platform who will gesture to you by knocking on the window as if seeking directions. As you get up to help, he will motion you to the door. He then asks you in broken English or French something like:“Where train Zurich?”

While you are being helpful, the first accomplice, who has moved to your place, swiftly grabs the most likely bag or satchel which you have left in the luggage rack or on your seat. He immediately gets off the train and disappears down the stairs into the main hall. By the time you realise that you have been duped, it is too late and the train is moving.

The Geneva police used to have a full-time office at Cointrin station but this has been closed, which really does not help if you’re trying to find a policeman. Once you reach Geneva airport or Nyon, there is little you can do.  Nor are there any police readily accessible at this time of night either. At the airport station, you have to go all the way into the airline terminal behind customs to find a police officer.

According to the Swiss Gerndarmerie, these gangs are known but move rapidlyaround the country from the train station to train station. One traveller who has worked all over the world, including conflict zones, without incident, lost a computer in Geneva, while another had his briefcase swiped with a thousand Swiss francs in notes just removed from the ATM.

A further form of blatant robbery, particularly aimed at visitors from Africa and Asia with no particular love or trust for police in their own countries, are thieves posing as Swiss plain clothesmen. Their ploy is to stop likely foreigners, flashing whatappears to be an official ID card, and then demanding to see their passports and wallets. The thieves then either make off with what they have in hand or maintain that the papers are not in order. The victims are asked to pay an immediate fine. Most outsiders are too nervous to pose questions and, anyway, like the Zidane move, it all happens tooquickly.

Tadib Muqtada is webeditor and a journalist of The Essential Edge.