Italian police have nabbed a gang who sprayed what looked like bird droppings on tourists and then snatched their bags while cleaning it up.
The gang of three has been operating at Rome's main Termini Station for some time, police said.
Their ploy has been aided by the station's notorious problems with flocks of birds who often give visitors to the Eternal City a welcoming salvo from the air.
One of the three would approach a passenger who had just alighted - often foreigners disorientated by their first contact with the big city and its screeching birds.
Taking advantage of a moment's bewilderment, the ringleader sprayed the visitor's clothes with a dollop of excrement-like liquid.
Then the second gang member came into play, politely offering handkerchiefs to help the tourist mop up the mess. He would shield an accomplice who whisked the visitor's bags away - just as he was probably thinking how friendly the locals were.
After days on the alert, police caught the gang in the act on Friday morning, arresting an Algerian - although the other two slipped through the dragnet.
The latest victim, a Chinese tourist, had his bags returned.
