A Bulgarian woman who arrived in Malta on Saturday and travelled to Valletta to steal people’s wallets had her planned holiday ruined when she was caught at her first attempt.

Mariyana Kirilova Petrova, 21, went straight to Valletta to start her pick-pocketing spree but an alert Maltese customer at a shop noticed that someone was fiddling with her handbag.

As Carmen Colombo turned, she noticed a woman trying to unzip her bag to take her purse, the court heard yesterday.

The incident took place at about 2.30pm on Saturday.

The accused told officers that she had just arrived in Malta, where she was planning to stay for three days

Police Inspector Kylie Borg informed Magistrate Neville Camilleri the accused had told officers that she had just arrived in Malta where she was planning to stay for three days.

She said she had no lodging booked and was carrying €300 in cash.

When no return ticket was found in her possession, the woman said she was planning to call her mother in Bulgaria to book a flight back home at a later stage, the prosecuting officer said.

Magistrate Camilleri heard Ms Colombo declare that nothing had been stolen from her handbag.

She had €80 and bank cards in her purse.

Ms Kirilova pleaded guilty to the attempted theft of the woman’s purse and was sentence to jail for a month, suspended for a year.

The magistrate warned her that she would have to serve the jail term if she committed another crime.

Lawyer Mark Busuttil appeared for the defendant.

There was a surge in pickpocketing incidents this summer, especially in popular clubbing area Paceville.

A spate of thefts was reported, involving mostly cash and mobile phones stolen from handbags.

Police sources said the Criminal Investigation Department had stepped up its efforts to pin down a gang of foreigners, mostly eastern Europeans.