{"id":19236,"date":"2025-04-14T12:58:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T12:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19236\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T12:58:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T12:58:21","slug":"batman-and-robin-deliver-vengeance-to-scammers-preying-on-london-tourists-news-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/19236\/","title":{"rendered":"Batman and Robin &#8216;deliver vengeance&#8217; to scammers preying on London tourists | News UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t<video id=\"3413027\" class=\"video-js\" poster=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2025\/04\/11\/17\/97179343-0-image-a-4_1744387688898.jpg\" data-opts=\"{\" controls=\"\" disguised=\"\" as=\"\" batman=\"\" and=\"\" robin=\"\" catch=\"\" criminals=\"\" red-handed=\"\" on=\"\" westminster=\"\" bridge=\"\" epic.=\"\" preload=\"metadata\" playsinline=\"\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"vjs-no-js\">To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbrowser that<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/videojs.com\/html5-video-support\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supports HTML5<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/video><\/p>\n<p><strong><a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/batman\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Batman<\/a> and Robin took a break from cleaning up the streets of <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/gotham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gotham<\/a> City to swoop on scammers targeting tourists in central <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/london\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">London<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Footage shared by the <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/metropolitan-police\/\" data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Met Police<\/a> shows two undercover officers disguised as the superheroes tackling members of an gang running the \u2018three cups challenge\u2019 or \u2018shell game\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Inspector Darren Watson and PC Abdi Osman had to \u2018think outside the box\u2019 to deliver \u2018vengeance\u2019 after officers\u2019 faces became too well-known to the criminals.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Watson said: \u2018I remembered that I had\u00a0Batman\u00a0and Robin costumes to hand which could come in useful.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"432\" height=\"244\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97186271-0-image-a-4_1744399715233.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22896199\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"sync\"\/><br \/>\n\t\tBatman and Robin took a break from cleaning up the streets of Gotham City to swoop on scammers targeting tourists in central London (Picture: Met Police)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img width=\"512\" height=\"733\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_247187533-30a7-e1744456202583.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22895464\" alt=\"The Metropolitan Police Service is tackling an influx of illegal gambling on Westminster Bridge with new tactics. Illegal gambling gangs target tourists with games known as the ?free cups challenge? or ?shell game?. Because the local Met officers have become so well known to these individuals, officers have had to come up with creative plans to deliver ?vengeance?. On Saturday, 15 February Inspector Darren Watson and Police Constable Osman donned their alter ego Batman and Robin costumes and launched their superhero mission.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"\/><br \/>\n\t\tInspector Darren Watson (pictured) and PC Abdi Osman had to \u2018think outside the box\u2019 to deliver \u2018vengeance\u2019 (Picture: Met Police)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"1039\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_247187444-6189-e1744456346825.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22895463\" alt=\"The Metropolitan Police Service is tackling an influx of illegal gambling on Westminster Bridge with new tactics. Illegal gambling gangs target tourists with games known as the ?free cups challenge? or ?shell game?. Because the local Met officers have become so well known to these individuals, officers have had to come up with creative plans to deliver ?vengeance?. On Saturday, 15 February Inspector Darren Watson and Police Constable Osman donned their alter ego Batman and Robin costumes and launched their superhero mission.\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"\/><br \/>\n\t\tPC Abdi Osman donned a Robin costume to swoop on the scammers (Picture: Met Police)<\/p>\n<p>He went on: \u2018Although dressing up may not be the most conventional policing method, we were thrilled to see that in this case it worked perfectly and the team were able to get some great results, taking these people off the street and protecting tourists and Londoners from being fleeced.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Eugen Stocia, 32, and Constica-Gherorghe Barbu, 53, were arrested by the Dark Knight and his sidekick PC Osman on February 15.<\/p>\n<p>Barbu was convicted of providing the facilities to gamble on February 17, at Croydon Magistrates\u2019 Court, and was fined \u00a3925.<\/p>\n<p>Stocia was convicted in his absence of providing the facilities to gamble at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on April 10 after failing to appear in court.<\/p>\n<p>The Metropolitan Police said a warrant is out for his arrest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong><strong><strong>Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/04\/12\/batman-robin-deliver-vengeance-scammers-preying-london-tourists-22897441\/mailto:webnews@metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this, <\/strong><a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\">Arrow<br \/>\nMORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/04\/12\/mystery-crash-victims-identity-finally-solved-a-decade-22893977\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mystery of crash victim\u2019s identity finally solved after a decade<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\">Arrow<br \/>\nMORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/04\/12\/bomb-explodes-heart-athens-anonymous-call-warns-threat-no-joke-22897247\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bomb explodes in heart of Athens after anonymous call warns \u2018threat is no joke\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\">Arrow<br \/>\nMORE: <a data-ico=\"hyperlink-article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/04\/12\/sunny-weather-heat-uk-22c-today-bad-news-hay-fever-sufferers-22896919\/?ico=more_text_links\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sunny weather to heat UK up to 22C today \u2013 but bad news for hay fever sufferers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tBreaking News<\/p>\n<p>Never miss the biggest stories with breaking news alerts in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[7531,748,534,393,4884,257,135,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-19236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-batman","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-crime-news","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-metropolitan-police","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114336439000157774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}