With the arrest of five people from Jehangirabad area in the State capital, the police on Friday claimed to have busted an inter-State gang involved in chain-snatching. In view of recent rise in the number of chain-snatching incidents, police suspected the involvement of a gang.
The gang members are of Irani descent hailing from Bhopal and they have admitted to have committed 150 chain snatching crimes in 13 cities of the country. This number includes 10 cases only in Bhopal.
Several police teams were formed to crack the crime. Finally, city-residents Murtaja (30), Shadab (23), Haider (19), Gufran (19) and Raja Ali (18) were arrested by Jehangirabad Police on Friday.
Superintendent of Police Anshuman Singh told media persons here on Friday that nine chains were seized from the accused. Besides, four stolen motorcycles used by the culprits to perpetrate crimes were also seized.
The accused were also wanted in connection with 76 chain looting incidents including 21 offences committed in Bengaluru, nine in Davangiri, seven in Mysore, six in Hyderabad, five in Visakhapatnam, four each in Madurai and Vijaywada, three in Kolar, two each in Tunkur, Coimbatore and Trichy. The accused used to commit crimes on stolen motorcycles and later dump the vehicles.
City Superintendent of Police (CSP) of Jehangirabad Saleem Khan informed that during investigation of a chain-snatching case, police were tipped off that the activities of Murtuza alias Babar (30), a resident of Irani camp near railway station, were suspicious. later, the police caught him and put to sustained interrogation; he broke down and accepted to have committed crimes with the help of his accomplices.