Metropolitan Police officers have travelled to Romania to discourage young men from coming to London to find black market work or commit crime.
In an unprecedented operation, Scotland Yard sent a “mission” to rural northern Romania. Officers warned Romanians that if they sought illegal jobs in London they were likely to be exploited or become victims of crime.
Restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians coming to Britain are due to be lifted on January 1 when they are given EU working rights.
The police mission to Eastern Europe came after a raid on the derelict ground of Hendon Football Club, which had become a home to squatters.
Almost all of them were found to be from the same village in Romania’s Carpathian mountains.
Last year Romanians accounted for nearly half of all arrests for begging in London and 34 per cent of pickpocketing arrests. The Met has also brought a team of police from Romania to London.
