Woman-led robbery gang lured people for forex; busted

The city police have busted an eight-member gang from UP that allegedly robbed gullible people by luring them with cheap Saudi riyals. The gang was led by a 34-year-old woman named Shafiya Begum.

The Jayanagar police tracked down all of them on Monday following a complaint from one Khalifulla, who said he lost as much as Rs 3.5 lakh to the gang.

According to police, Begum had come down to Bengaluru along with her associates and robbed at least six people in as many months. They stayed in rented houses on the outskirts of the city and regularly shifted base.

The gang members would carry 50 notes of Saudi riyal in different denominations and go around in auto-rickshaws and cabs, looking for potential victims. They would tell the “customer” that they have a large stock of Saudi riyals and offer them at throwaway rates in Indian rupees.

Once the victims brought cash to exchange it with Saudi riyals, the gang would snatch the money with a quick sleight of hand and flee the spot, police said, adding that they had recovered Rs 3.5 lakh that the gang robbed from Khalifulla.

The gang members were arrested in a similar case in 2011 and jailed. But they soon got bail and went back to the old ways, police said.

The other members of the gang were Mohammed Shakeel Sheikh, 19, Rahim Qureshi, 24, Mohammed Dilwar Hussain, 39, Mohammed Shanawaz, 30, Mohammed Ibrahim, 24, Rahim Sheikh, 56, and Anwar Hussain, 24.