CHENNAI: The city police have arrested six school boys and four college students who, police say, had formed themselves into a gang and were habitually snatching cellphones from people. All were aged between 15 and 19 years.
Chromepet police said they got a clue of the gang when a woman victim managed to note down four digits on the number plate of the motorbike used by the members. When police checked the CCTV footage of the incident that occurred on December 21 at New Colony, they were shocked to find that the robbers who were on the bike were in school uniform.
Later, police said, they spotted the bike with the same registration number during a vehicle check at Chromepet flyover. On further questioning, the two youth allegedly told police they were part of the cellphone robbing gang. Based on information given by them, police arrested eight others.
“They would target mainly women who were walking alone on the road and were either talking or typing in the phone. They would snatch the phone and escape,” said a police officer.
The youth used the stolen phones either by themselves or sold them. What shocked police was that six boys were school students. Five of them were studying in government schools and one in a well-known private school at Tambaram. Two others were pursuing ITI courses and two were studying in a private college at Meenambakkam. Nearly 13 phones were seized from the gang, police said.