Chennai: It looks like a gang of Iranian men, specialists in attention diversion crime, is back in Chennai and is ‘striking’ gold.
In a period of 24 hours from Monday morning to Tuesday morning six incidents of attention diversion were reported in Chennai and elderly women lost over 40 sovereigns of ornaments to members of the suspected gang, police said here.
The police on their hand had spread their net with circulating the photographs of suspects through various social networking platforms hoping to nab the men, who pose as well dressed police men in mufti and con elderly women to relieve them of their valuables.
“All beat-level officers have been alerted with photographs of the suspects,” a police officer said.
The incidents of attention diversion by suspected gang members took place in Adyar, Mylapore, Royapettah, Guindy, and Mambalam on Monday and another one happened on Tuesday morning in Mandaveli.
This is the second wave of Iranian gang operation in the last four years. Earlier in March 2013, Chennai police had formed special teams to nab the gang who managed to strike in different locations in a short period and escape from the city. As many as seven of the gang members were later secured by the police.
The gang member approaches his victim posing as a police officer and tells her that a trouble is brewing on the next street. He further asks her to remove all the ornaments she is wearing and helps her to wrap it in a paper so that she can ‘take it home safely’.
Only when the victim goes home and opens the packet she would know she was cheated as the packet, handed over to her by ‘the police officer’, will contain only small stones.
In the year 2013 as many as 31 such cases were reported in the month of March alone. The police first arrested Asif Sabeer from Mumbai last time. Later Babar Ali, Asathulla, Saibullah, Nazhaar, Sadik, and Abusar all from Karamadai of Mettupalayam area were arrested by Mambalam police then. Most of them are now out of jail.
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The suspects are basically of Irani origin who migrated into India long back and settled in various places in Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Mettupalayam, Thirupathur, Karamadai, Pothanur, in Tamil Nadu. They move in groups pretending to sell sunglasses and indulge in cheating like posing as police officers in different areas
