Mestre hotel closed for seven days as police target pickpocketing

Three people were arrested in Mestre after police say they used bank cards stolen from visitors to Venice.

The cards were used at a tobacco shop to buy cigarettes and scratch cards, and police say the suspects were also carrying cosmetics they could not explain.

The hotel Giovannina in Mestre had its licence suspended for seven days because it had housed people with criminal records, according to police; it had been closed for similar reasons before.

Police say the measures are part of efforts to curb pickpocketing by people who travel to Venice and stay nearby.

A court ordered the three suspects not to live in the area and gave them suspended prison sentences, according to the local report.

Two of the Romanian citizens arrested are now in a repatriation centre and are awaiting return to Romania, despite being EU citizens.

The criminal case is still ongoing, and their guilt must be established by a final court ruling.