Chennai: The city police on Friday busted a gang allegedly stealing silk sarees from textile showrooms in Chennai and Salem, and arrested four persons including three women. The police are searching for one more member of the gang who is absconding.
Reports said the gang members used to pretend to be customers and visited the shops to inquire about the prices of expensive sarees. The gang members would divert the attention of shopkeepers and steal the sarees. Police said they generally targeted small shops.
The police came upon the gang when they stopped a car during a routine vehicle check near the Padi flyover. The police could identify the gang members as the crime wing had circulated their photographs, taken from CCTV footage in showrooms from where they had stolen sarees.
The arrested were identified as Kanaga Durga, 60, Balu Mahendra, 40, Nagamani, 35, and Mena, 19.
Police said the gang was involved in the theft of silk sarees worth '7 lakh in a showroom at Anna Nagar here in 2018. They stole silk sarees worth '5 lakh from a shop in Alwarpet in January. They targeted a showroom in Ashok Nagar on February and stole sarees worth Rs 1.5 lakh. They stole sarees worth '8 lakh from a showroom at Thirumangalam.
They were taken into custody and further investigations are on.
