Thane thugs arrested for snatching chains in city

Two Thane-based gangsters who adopted an unusual method of operation to snatch chains in the city have been arrested on Wednesday by the Vidyaranyapura police.

The accused would fly into the city from Mumbai, carry out a series of chain snatchings using a high-end bike they stole from Mumbai and kept in the city and board the train back home from the Cantonment railway station, where they would leave the bike at the parking lot.

The police identified the bike through the CCTV footage obtained in one of the cases and deputed an officer to pose as a parking lot attendant to capture the criminals.

The police said the accused — Mohammed Ali (23) and Syed Karaar Hussain (37) — are members of the notorious Irani gang. They were involved in chain snatchings and robberies through attention diversion.

With the duo’s arrest, the police have solved around 20 chain-snatching cases, reported in the city since August last year. The police recovered gold chains worth Rs 15 lakh and the bike.

Describing the gang’s modus operandi, DCP (north east) Kala Krishnaswamy said Ali and Hussain would leave the bike at the Cantonment station parking lot until they returned for the next round of chain snatchings.

The duo also confessed that they used a similar method of operation to commit crimes in other metro cities. They said they preferred Bengaluru over Lucknow and Chennai since the women here wear heavy and costly jewellery.