‘Fleet schools’ in India teach children how to pickpocket rich people’s weddings

Parents send their children, aged 12 to 13, to these “thieves’ schools,” where they join local criminal gangs and receive skills training.

The ‘teachers’ are gang members and hardened criminals.

The curriculum includes pickpocketing, snatching purses in crowded places, evading police and enduring beatings. Children also learn how to gamble and sell alcohol.

A place at a “thief school” costs parents 200,000 to 300,000 rupees (US$2,400 to US$3,600) in fees.

The students usually come from low-educated and impoverished families.

They are trained to blend in with wealthy families and gain access to the most exclusive weddings of high society.

After a year of schooling, the teenagers could “graduate” by stealing jewels at the weddings of the wealthy.

Reports say that the teenagers can earn five to six times more than their college tuition thanks to their underworld education, and their parents can receive between 300,000 (US$3,600) and 500,000 rupees a year from gang leaders.

According to police, more than 300 children from such schools are involved in marriage fraud across India.

On August 8, a thief stole a bag containing jewelry worth 15 million rupees (US$180,000) and 100,000 rupees in cash during a lavish wedding in Jaipur, a city in northwestern India.

In March, a 24-year-old bandit, who had trained as a criminal, stole a bag containing jewelry at a wedding in Gurgaon, northern India.

Police Inspector Ramkumar Bhagat said it was “extremely difficult” for the police to take action as most of the criminals were minors.

People found guilty of theft in India can face up to seven years in prison and a fine.

However, the country’s legal system is more lenient when it comes to juvenile crime, with a focus on correction and education.

Villagers also protect petty criminals, making it even harder for police to combat the growing underground network of professional thieves.

Such theft schools attract a lot of attention on social media.

An online observer wrote: “These children could have used the tuition money for a formal education. It is the bad social environment that has led them down the wrong path.”

“These parents exploit their children to commit crimes for money. They are not fit to be parents,” said another.