Impeccably dressed, driven in a BMW, Mumbai thief stole from hotels to buy drugs

Mumbai: Police on Tuesday arrested a man who had been committing thefts in Mumbai by driving into posh hotels in his white BMW to fund his drug habit.

33-year-old Irfan Memon, is the son of a rich businessman and is believed to be involved in at least 70 cases of thefts, according to a report in Midday.

Memon’s modus-operandi was simple. He would dress impeccably and be driven into posh hotels or upmarket clubs by a chauffeur, minimising chances of suspicion, and would then break into cars in the parking lot and steal whatever he would find.

He would use a glass cutter to break into cars and then steal things like phones, laptops, music systems or anything worth some money left by people in their cars and would sell them and then use the money to buy drugs.

"Irfan committed the crimes mainly on Saturday and Sunday nights. The biggest advantage was that he was being driven about in a BMW and was well dressed, so he got easy access to posh hotels and pubs. No one ever stopped him," a police officer was quoted in the report.

But the law soon caught up with Irfan, after the police got a tip off about two drug users involved in a theft. The two men were Irfan’s drivers, who he had hired as part times chaffeurs to drive him to the hotels. They two drivers also consumed drugs and Irfan would give them a share of his spoils.

Investigations revealed that Irfan is a resident of Bandra Talao and his father is an affluent trader who owns online lottery businesses in Mumbai and Goa. The family was aware of his drug problem and tried their best to help him get rid of his drug habit.

The family had even admitted Irfan to a rehab twice, but all their efforts turned futile. They finally gave up and stopped giving him money and that is when he resorted to stealing to keep the cash flow coming in, so that he could sustain his drug-fuelled lifestyle.

The police recovered laptops stolen from the five-star hotels and clubs from around the city. Irfan and his accomplices were handed over to the Santacruz police for further interrogation.

Mumbai police suspect that Irfan might have been involved in more crimes and are trying to ascertain his involvement in crimes in the city.