Outrage Over Thief Stealing Wallet From Man In Wheelchair In Barcelona Bar

This footage shows a heartless thief stealing a wallet from a man in a wheelchair with a cunning sleight of hand that involved a bag swap.

The robbery, which was captured on video, happened at the Gomar Frankfurt restaurant in Barcelona, the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia in north-eastern Spain, where the victim, whose name and age were not given, was sitting on his own, reading a newspaper.

The video shows the older man sitting at a table in front of an open door with a large bag beside him on the table as the alleged thief, wearing a black baseball cap and dark jacket, comes inside.

A man a stole the wallet of an ALS patient in a restaurant in Barcelona, Spain, in October, 2021. (@GUBBarcelona/Newsflash)

He is carrying a bag and glances at the older man as he walks behind him. He then stands near the wall and observes him for a few moments to make sure the coast is clear.

He then approaches and speaks to the man as he carries out the cunning bag swap by putting the white plastic bag on the table and the man’s own bag out of sight on a chair beside it.

He slowly opens the older man’s bag and removes something, reportedly a wallet, before leaving.

A man a stole the wallet of an ALS patient in a restaurant in Barcelona, Spain, in October, 2021. (@GUBBarcelona/Newsflash)

The disabled man is clearly in distress with his hands raised but seems unable to raise the alarm as a person believed to be a member of staff wanders over to see what is happening.

The victim may have had difficulty communicating his distress because he reportedly has speech difficulties due to his condition of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

The thief quickly escaped the bar before staff could stop him.

A man a stole the wallet of an ALS patient in a restaurant in Barcelona, Spain, in October, 2021. (@GUBBarcelona/Newsflash)

The managers of the bar provided video footage from security cameras to the Barcelona police, who have since shared it with the public in the hopes of catching the criminal.