This is the moment a thief swipes a rucksack containing £600 worth of possessions at St Pancras station.
Hossein Rabah, 34, was arrested seconds after his crime spree on January 4 by plain clothes officers who caught him in the act.
He pleaded guilty to one count of theft at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, London just a day later and was jailed for 36 weeks.
CCTV footage has now emerged of the thief entering Kineya Mugimaru restaurant in the station before standing behind a man and woman having dinner.
All the while, he was being watched by cops in plain clothes patrolling the busy station in north London.
Dressed in a padded jacket and woolly hat, Rabah feigns interest in some of the food at the counter.
Seconds later, he bends down and brazenly swipes the unsuspecting victim’s rucksack before leaving the restaurant.
British Transport Police (BTP) officers then leapt out to arrest Rabah for the theft before handing the bag back to the victim.
This is the moment a thief, pictured, left, swipes a rucksack containing £600 worth of possessions at St Pancras station
Hossein Rabah, pictured, was arrested seconds after his crime spree on January 4 by plain clothes officers who caught him in the act
BTP Sergeant James Ashby said: ‘Rabah prowled St. Pancras station looking for any opportunity to steal, but he was completely unaware that our eagle-eyed officers were attuned to his plan.
‘As shown in the clear CCTV footage, it’s no coincidence that we were able to strike the moment Rabah committed his crime.
‘Thankfully he is now behind bars, and the victim was immediately reunited with his bag which contained around £600 worth of his possessions.
‘Our officers are in key locations on the rail network every day in plain clothes, so even if you don’t see us, we are there keeping you and your belongings safe.’
London was last year revealed as the 15th most dangerous city for crime in Europe as concerns continue to mount over a growing epidemic of violence, theft and robbery.
Thieves have stolen more than £5.5million worth of luxury watches, handbags and jewellery from Londoners in just 19 months, according to shocking new figures.
Data collected by the Daily Mail through a Freedom of Information request with the Met has highlighted the staggering rate at which thieves are targeting luxury accessories in the capital.
A total of 3,207 high-end items, worth upwards of £1,000 each, were snatched on the streets of London, laying bare the criminality that tourists and locals are forced to endure each day.
CCTV footage has now emerged of the thief, pictured standing up, centre, entering Kineya Mugimaru restaurant in the station before standing behind a man and woman having dinner
Theft in the capital has been on the rise in recent years. Phone thief Zacariah Boulares (pictured), 18, was caught by police and jailed for 22 months
CCTV footage showed Algerian national Yakob Harket, 21, grabbing a replica Patek Philippe rose gold aquanaut watch from a female police officer’s wrist in Mayfair, west London
While the total price of those items that were stolen totals at least £5,538,000, the real figure is likely to be much larger, with watches valued as much as £30,000 among those that have been looted.
Unsurprisingly, Westminster was biggest hotspot for every kind of theft, with 363 handbags, 309 watches and 104 jewellery items stolen in the central London borough between January 2024 and August 2025.
The central London borough is home to some of the most famous high-end designer brands and entertainment stores, making it a hotspot for brazen and occasionally violent thieves.
Some of the most high profile victims of muggings in London in the past year include Bridgerton’s Genevieve Chenneour, Loose Women’s Christine Lampard and Jenson Button’s wife Brittny.
Police were only able to recover one person’s piece of jewellery following 1,036 thefts across the capital – meaning those who face similar thefts have a less than 0.1 per cent chance of having it returned.
Meanwhile, officers retrieved three of 792 stolen watches and six of 727 stolen handbags during the 19-month period.
The data covers reports to the Met between January 2024 and August 2025, with luxury items defined as watches worth over £3,000 and jewellery and handbags over £1,000. There were 3,207 luxury thefts in total.
