MANGALURU: The Mangaluru police arrested a gang of eight people who had been impersonating as sleuths of the National Criminal Investigation Department (NCID) and allegedly carrying out an extortion racket.
This was thanks to the centrally issued high alert following which security was beefed up in the city. The police had upped their vigil over any kind of suspicious activity or behaviour. The Kadri police (Mangaluru East) picked up the eight from a lodge near Pumpwell around 8.30 pm on Friday. The arrests also created some confusion over whether the accused were suspected terrorists. On Friday night, the police had refused to divulge any information on why these people were picked up for questioning. However, Mangaluru City Police Commissioner P S Harsha disclosed that the arrested persons are suspected to sun an extortion racket.
The gang ringleader, T Sam Peter, hails from Kerala. Harsha said G Moideebn and Latif were the local point of contact for the others. The police have also seized a .22 revolver with eight cartridges, a laptop, voice recorder, fake identity and visiting cards and a fake high-end pistol. The commissioner said Sam used to pose as Director of NCIB, while the five others used to masquerade as security personnel. The SUV they were using did not have a number plate and had tag ‘NCIB Director’ on it. The commissioner said further probe is on to find out more details.