NEW DELHI: Delhi Police went high tech to solve a case of snatching and subsequently used Artificial Intelligence to “unmask” a masked criminal who had snatched and run away with the mobile phone of a woman in north Delhi.
The accused, Afnan Ali, was seen committing the crime on a CCTV camera footage but his identity remained a puzzle for the cops as he was wearing a mask.
DCP (north) Raja Banthia said the incident was reported on November 24 when the complainant told the police that her mobile phone was snatched the previous day near Tyre Market, Pahari Dheeraj Main Road.
The complainant woman stated that an unknown person approached her from behind, snatched her mobile phone, and fled towards Gali Tyre wali, Sadar Bazar.
Accordingly, a case was registered and a team was formed to catch the culprit at the earliest.
“We started working on CCTV cameras and the route of the snatcher was followed. In one of the footage, the accused was captured while running after snatching the mobile phone of the complainant,” the DCP said. But this is where the cops hit a roadblock. The identity of the accused could not be established as he was wearing a mask.
At this juncture, the investigators used Artificial Intelligence technology to virtually remove the mask from the screengrab of the CCTV footage video. “His mask was removed with the help of AI techniques and a blurred picture of the accused was extracted,” Banthia said and this was enough for the cops to activate their secret informers.
Finally, the accused, Afnan Ali (23), a resident of Sadar Bazar, with the help of technical surveillance and secret informers as well. A raid was conducted and he was nabbed. The cops recovered the snatched mobile phone and seized the clothes worn by the accused at the time of the crime. Interrogation of the accused Afnan revealed that he was released from Tihar Jail just 7 days before the incident and had again started committing the crime.
Why police used AI tools to catch the snatcher
The investigators had to use AI technology as they had hit roadblock while following the snatcher’s route through CCTV cameras. The police, then, used AI tools to virtually remove the mask from the screengrab of the CCTV footage video. The police said His mask was removed with the help of AI techniques and a blurred picture of the accused was extracted