QUEENS — A pickpocket crew linked to two Queens thefts was arrested in Florida on Wednesday, sources said.
The team of four targeted victims immediately after they withdrew money from a bank. They sprayed their targets with an unknown substance, then pretended to offer them assistance with cleaning it up, police said.
While feigning concern for the victim, the suspects would take the cash, according to officials.
Police arrested Danny Guerrero Arbelaez, 35, Claudia Londono Rodriguez, 40, Francisco Puerta Baracaldo, 38, and Javier Rodriguez Velasco, 38, in connection to two incidents in Flushing and Glen Oaks.
The first was on Sept. 8 outside of a Chase Bank at 39-01 Main St. near 39th Ave., according to police.
After the 52-year-old victim withdrew $3,000 from the bank, a man and woman down the block approached her and said she had something on her back.
They offered to help her. The victim later found that her bag was open and the cash was gone, police said.
On Nov. 29, outside a Capital One Bank on Hillside Avenue, the suspects approached an 80-year-old woman, officials said.
After telling her she had something on her ear and offering assistance, they took $350 from her jacket pocket, according to police.
NYPD officials tracked the four down to Florida on Wednesday. They were taken into custody by members of the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security, sources said.
The suspects were caught as they were preparing to board a flight to Colombia, sources said.
The four suspects, who all lived in Elmont, are being extradited to New York and face charges of grand larceny, police said.
