Qatar World Cup: TV reporter left bemused by police response after robbery

An Argentinian TV reporter was left bemused after Qatar authorities appeared to ask what punishment should be handed out to a pickpocket who stole her belongings.

Dominique Metzger, from television channel TN, was conducting a live pre-World Cup broadcast back to Argentina from the Corniche area of Doha when items from her handbag were stolen during a fan melee.

Metzger reported the incident to local police and was seemingly taken aback by their response after they promised to find the thief thanks to the surveillance at their disposal.

She claimed: "I went to the station and that was when the cultural differences began. The policewoman said to me: 'We have high-tech cameras everywhere and we are going to locate him [the thief] with face detection.

Read More: Qatar gets its show, then lose opener

'What do you want the justice system to do when we find him?'"

A puzzled Metzger then sought to ask what the female police officer meant.

According to Metzger, the policewoman replied: "What justice do you want? What sentence do you want us to give him? Do you want him to be sentenced to five years in prison? Do you want him to be deported?"

Metzger reported that she simply wanted her belongings returned safely, while it is not known if she had succeeded.

Watch: World Cup crowds take in fan zone atmosphere

Qatari officials have attempted to stem crime at this World Cup by installing a reported 15,000 cameras which use advanced facial recognition at stadiums.

In the run-up to the Qatar World Cup, the host nation's tournament security committee had hired hundreds of men, some with no experience, to work as security guards tasked with crowd observation inside stadiums.

Read More: England's opening game to be played in air-conditioned stadium

Reuters reported that the last-minute logistical challenges faced by the small Gulf state saw more than 50,000 people trained to provide security for an expected wave of 1.2 million visitors from around the globe.

World Cup organisers were forced to apologise before the tournament started after footage of a Danish camera crew being “mistakenly interrupted” on a live broadcast went viral.

A group confronted Danish network TV2 last week while they were producing a piece to camera and ordered them to stop filming.