CHENNAI: Police cracked a robbery that was masterminded by the staff of a money exchange while transporting it within four hours of reporting it and arrested three people, apart from recovering Rs 23.5 lakh on Saturday. The police are on the lookout for three others.
On Friday evening, staffers of a money exchange were robbed while transporting Rs 50 lakh in cash on a two-wheeler on Friday evening. They were on their way to deliver the cash to a person at Kothavalchavadi when a gang waylaid them near Elephant Gate Street off Wall Tax Road and pepper-sprayed one of the victims before fleeing with the bag of cash.
The victims were identified as Zakir Hussain, and Kaja Moideen (45), of Settipalayam in Erode, who was riding a pillion and got pepper-sprayed. The incident happened at 6:30 pm and police were notified at 10 pm.
Special teams were immediately formed and within four hours the police had arrested three people including Kaja Moideen, who had staged the robbery with the help of his friends. Police investigation revealed that Kaja Moideen had been working with Zakir for the last four years.
The police are also investigating the source of the money. Zakir Hussain works in a private money exchange firm in Egmore and is a resident of Chengalpet. The police arrested Kaja Moideen and his accomplices B Subash Kumar (38) and A Ajith Kumar (29), both from Arcot in Ranipet district. Joint commissioner (North) R V Ramya Bharati said police had received their first lead within minutes and solved the case within four hours.