Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police has busted a notorious two-member city gang of chain snatchers and has seized six kg of gold ornaments.
The two snatchers, Sayeed Hussain alias Lamba, 27, and his friend Mirza Azmat Ali Baig, 27, involved in 228 snatching cases were arrested.
Hussain had stabbed a police constable and set fire to his official bike in a bid to escape following a police chase a month ago. The gang owned SUVs like Renault Duster and Mahindra Scorpio and had visited many tourist spots in the country using the money. They also bought several bikes and used them for chain snatching, police said.
The cops also arrested three receivers for allegedly helping the duo sell the snatched gold.
Police commissioner Mahender Reddy said that on November 14 Hussain attacked a police constable. “In the evening when he was passing by R.K. Puram in Kothapet two constables of Chaitanyapuri police station chased him. He was returning after snatching chains in L.B. Nagar police station limits. Hussain stabbed one of the constables and fled with the constable's bike. The cop suffered severe bleeding injuries. Later, Hussain and Baig took the bike to a remote place in Shamshabad and set fire to it,” said Mr Reddy.
The snatchers also used knives to create panic among victims if they tried to resist snatching.
Hussain was a master at hiding and used to go to cities like New Delhi, Goa, Bengaluru, Ooty, Mysore, Chennai, Gulbarga, Basavakalyan, Agra, Ajmer, Mumbai etc by changing vehicles to avoid the police. He returned to Hyderabad to resume chain snatchings.
Police said that as many 106 non-bailable warrants were pending against Hussain in Hyderabad and Cyberabad. He was arrested by the S.R. Nagar police twice in snatching cases in 2010 and in 2011. Mahankali police had arrested him in 2012. However, he came out on bail in November 2012 and continued snatching chains.
The police commissioner said that chain snatchers involved in multiple cases will be booked under the Preventive Detention Act as they have been creating panic among the public.
