City police arrest gang of migrant thieves

Thiruvananthapuram: The city police have arrested a gang of migrant thieves suspected to be responsible for the theft of bags from passengers inside parked cars at Statue junction and Thampanoor early this month.

Investigators said the accused are professional thieves hailing from Ramji Nagar in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu. The thieves had duped the car passengers by scattering currency notes on the road near the parked vehicles.

They then suggested to the occupants of the parked vehicle that the money possibly belonged to them. The moment the passengers stepped out of the cars to verify the claim, the thieves decamped with whatever was kept inside the vehicle. The suspects had used the same attention diverting technique for robbing car passengers in Kochi.

City Police Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar launched an undercover operation to arrest the elusive thieves. On March 5, they had stolen gold ornaments weighing 40 sovereigns and Rs.12,000 in cash and a mobile phone from a woman at Thampanoor.

The suspects started using the stolen mobile after changing the SIM card. The police kept track of the mobile phone using its unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. Subsequently, Mr. Ajith sent a team to Chennai and detained the gangs kingpin.