Pathan bazaar-rufflers: borrowed from George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman books. A Pathan tribesman with a turban, beard, Khyber knife. A lout, occasionally a sowar(soldier), a ruffian.
Pathans are one of the peoples of Afghanistan. In my copy of S. M. Stirling’s The Peshawar Lancers, they are described as being untrustworthy thieves, so maybe “bazaar-ruffling” is swiping things off the table as you go by.
Mind you, in that book, none of the Afghans come out looking good. I do not know whether Pathans are any more untrustworthy than other peoples in real life.
Cool. I was close. 
Thanks.
Thanks for the thread, False God, and thanks for answering my questions!
Cheers,
G