Clan leader in Paris sentenced to eight years over child pickpocketing gangs

Roberto Hamidovic, 48, ran network of thieves who targeted tourists in Paris Métro and Disneyland

A clan leader who sent gangs of child pickpockets to target tourists in the Paris Métro and popular attractions such as Disneyland Paris has been jailed for human trafficking.

Roberto Hamidovic, 48, likened to Fagin, Charles Dickens’s notorious criminal boss, ran a network of child thieves, mostly girls, some as young as 10, who brought in an average of €25,000 (£21,500) a day, according to police.