Colombia’s Underground School for Pickpockets

Posted by Mike Richard on February 7, 2008
Filed under: Colombia, Money, Sidelines

Like what you see? Subscribe to the full RSS feed.

Pickpockets Love Tourists
© GrooverFW

It’s comforting to know that even pickpockets know the value of a good education.

The School of the Seven Bells is a legendary, possibly apocryphal, and deliciously plausible school, said to be based in Columbia. Pickpocketing is largely a skilled combination of timing, and distraction, but South American pickpockets are particularly notorious.

There is, of course, an exam. Thieves-to-be are faced with a mannequin (or even a teacher) in a man’s suit, strewn with pockets, and rigged up with seven strategically-placed bells. They must pick the mark clean, without ringing a single bell.

The story changes with each telling: one version has it that the ‘diploma’ consists of a fake passport to the United States, and entry into one of the major American city crime gangs. The school may have closed, or even moved to Canada. Whatever the truth, the legend won’t die.

If you liked this post, subscribe to our full feed RSS. You can also subscribe by email and have new posts delivered directly to your inbox daily.

This article was reprinted with permission of Cool Things In Random Places - a little refreshing randomness from around the globe.



Vagabondish editor, Mike Richard, lives in Rhode Island - a spit of land in the northeastern U.S. He is a professional web designer and travel junkie with an unhealthy addiction to backpacking, camping, hiking and seeing the world. He enjoys knit hats, small, declarative sentences and speaking in the third person.



Like This Post? You Might Also Like:

Our Sponsors

Comments