CHENNAI: The City Police arrested three members of a gang that targets gold-carrying couriers from Chennai to deliver in other districts of the State. Police brought them to the city through a Prisoner-in-Transit warrant issued by a court in the north. About 3kg of gold jewellery stolen by the trio were recovered intact.
Sources said one Suresh, a jeweller from North Chennai, filed a complaint stating that his employees lost 3 kg of gold jewellery while
taking it by bus to Madurai recently. The jewellery store staff who had booked up to Madurai from Chennai realized that the jewel bag was stolen mid-way and alerted the bus crew and Suresh.
Preliminary probe showed that a similar theft was carried out by members of a Moradabad gang that gathered information on jewellery shop staff carrying gold and would strike while travelling with the jewellery store staff by the same bus. Specific inputs led to three persons who travelled by the bus who were traced in Delhi.
A special team from the city went to Moradabad where the suspects were arrested with the help of Delhi Police. The arrested were identified as Saleem (24), Nadheem (23) and Amith Varma (28), all from a pocket in Moradabad.
The trio told the police that they pulled off similar heists in the past and went scott-free. “Therefore, we chose to carry out the next hit. We would stay in North Chennai where jewellery stores are aplenty. We would be able to mingle with the crowd and would pass for locals with our ability to speak Hindi and would gather information regarding the jewellery stores and their staff over time,” the suspects told the police.