Chennai: Police arrested five men who on Tuesday robbed Rs 13 lakh worth US dollars from a mobile shop owner. Police said that their investigations disclosed that it was a stage-managed robbery and the culprit was none other than the businessman’s friend. According to police, S. Jaffar Sadik (27) runs a cellphone shop on Ellis road at Triplicane, while his friend Mohammed Thameem Ansari is also the owner of the similar shop in the same locality.
“We came to know that Jaffar Sadik used to send Mohammed Thameem Ansari to purchase mobile gadgets and other kind of accessories from Thailand. After his return to Chennai, Ansari would hand over the accessories bought for Jaffar,” said an investigating officer.
As usual, the two shop owners travelled on a two-wheeler to Chennai international airport to send Ansari to purchase accessories.
“While they were nearing the Army quarters in Teynampet at around 9.30 pm on Tuesday night, four men on two motorbikes chased and intercepted the duo. In no time, the gang allegedly threw chilli powder on them, hit the businessmen with an iron rod and parted with the cash bag in which Rs 13 lakh worth 17,900 US dollar currency notes were kept,” police said.
Based on a complaint from Jaffar, Teynampet police retrieved the CCTV footage and identified the robbers.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that Mohammed Thameem Ansari planned the robbery,” said the officer.
Later, Teynampet police registered a case and arrested Mohammed Thameem Ansari (27), Manoharan (28), Vignesh (23), Karthik (25) and Arun Kumar (21) all hailing from Vyasarpadi. The five men were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.
