Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Laying their hands on a 61-year-old Somali citizen proved to be the undoing of an Iranian robbery gang engaged in waylaying and cheating by attention diversion for long in the city. On Saturday, the city police nabbed six members of the gang and taking into custody three more women, staying with them.
The Somali national, Ali Ahmed Mohammed (61), a headmaster at a private school, was here for treating an eye ailment and he stayed at a lodge close to the arterial Anna Salai. On Tuesday, he was returning from the private hospital in Nungambakkam along with his local guide, Abdul when he was confronted by a gang which arrived in a car. Posing as Central Security Force personnel, they demanded to produce the passport and travel documents but fled with 3,800 US Dollars kept in his purse. Interestingly, the robbery took place in the vicinity of the Nungambakkam police station.
On a complaint from Mohammed, the Thousand Lights police scrutinized more than 200 CCTV footages, including instances of similar waylaying and attention diversion cheating in other parts of the city. Hotels and lodges in Chennai and the suburbs were alerted about this development. Police said, since the appearance of the gangsters in the video footage resembled that of North Indians, the probe was expanded to scrutinise similar robberies elsewhere in the city. For, in the last 10 days such instances have been reported from KK Nagar, Virugambakkam, Ashok Nagar and Kolathur areas.
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On ascertaining that the gang was hiding at a resort in Kovalam, a special team rushed to the place and arrested all the six members of the group, including a Delhiite, and took into custody three women, wives of three of the gangsters, for questioning. Initial interrogation revealed that the arrested are well versed in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi, making it easy for them to mingle with the locals.
Police gave the identity of the arrested as: Shabir (35), Rustom Zaidi (28), Shiavaz (26), Begru Shah (35), Burush Alifana (56), Binyamin (19) and Nashmin (36), Afsana and Fathima (39). According to an investigating officer, the Iranian gangs are experts in diverting attention and cheating people of valuables. Usually, the opt for less populated places and pose as selling dress material to evade public scrutiny. They used to target the elders. In the event of engaging in waylaying, they change the number plates of their vehicles and mobile SIM cards as well.
Police recovered from the gang, two cars, 13 cell phones Iranian currencies for the value of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 50,000 cash among other things. A senior police officer said even earlier during 2013 to 2017, the city had witnessed robberies by Iranian gangsters and they have reared their head once again.
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