Arrastão

19:47 May 23, 2014 

Have a nice weekend!

22:12 May 22, 2014 

Hi everyone. thank you for the suggestions and research. Both "mob robbery" and "mass robbery" are correct, and are used by BBC and CNN. However, I will be going with mob robbery, as it is called in the states, when people attack department stores and malls, while in Brazil it happens on beaches, luxury condos, in heavy traffic, and is committed by crowds of people or "coordinated" specialized gangs. Cheers!

20:13 May 22, 2014 

I disagree. I don't think coordinated implies anything fancy, just that the group are working together, which is true. But each to their own! Really the main point I was trying to make was that in the absence of a direct translation, it's best to use a succinct phrase or few words that make the point, and describe the meaning.

The above is now kind of moot anyway, given that somebody has posted a direct translation! Although personally (and this is just my stance) I never use a direct translation if I think it is a very uncommon/unknown term. I'd rather the reader understands what it is they're reading.

19:44 May 22, 2014 

although it is a loose translation, due to the non-existence of an exact term, "coordinated" sounds just too fancy for a bunch of favelados who do that kind of thing. There may be a bit of organization to it, but it's a big attack in mass, without much organization or leadership.

18:53 May 22, 2014 

I've had to translate this a couple of times recently and as far as I know, there's no actual word for this in English. It's not really a "thing" outside Brazil in my experience, which would explain the lack of a name for it.

I have always translated it as "a group of thieves on the train" or a "coordinated robbery by a group", etc, something of a more loose translation.