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She began by simply trailing the pickpockets and shouting out warnings while handing out the flyers that she prints herself, but found that not enough people could hear her – which is why she bought a whistle.

"The whistle is what really gets them," she says. "That, and a sign I hold up that tells people, in four different languages, there are pickpockets at work."
About 150 bag-snatchers operate on Barcelona's metro, trains and buses, committing 90 robberies a day, according to police. The thieves form well-organised gangs that often co-ordinate the shifts they work.

Guerrero blames Spanish law for the impunity enjoyed by Barcelona's pickpockets.
"If they take less than 400 [￡350], then they only get a small fine – and then only if the victim turns up to give evidence, which is why they target tourists," she said. "And the police don't have a database that enables them to tell if the thief has been arrested before.

"In Barcelona you get fined more for double-parking or wandering around with your shirt off than for stealing three purses in one day."

Families with small children, pushchairs and lots of suitcases were favourite targets, she said. "Who is going to chase a pickpocket if they have to worry about their child?"

The thieves not only threaten her, but have sometimes tried to buy her off. "I am very careful about my own security and don't tell anyone where I live," says Guerrero, who moved to Barcelona from her native Colombia 12 years ago.

She has become something of a celebrity in Barcelona, and has challenged the city mayor, Xavier Trias, to ride the metro with her.