By Tannistha Dey
A well-planned gang from Jharkhand and West Bengal has been striking at crowded locations in Chennai to steal mobile phones, and it was for this reason that a joint alert had been issued by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP), and other police officials. This gang works with utmost planning and professionalism and resorts to distraction and camouflage methods to snatch phones within seconds before the victims could realise themselves.
Police believe that the gang adopts a nomadic movement, remaining in a city for around a week before traveling to another urban hub such as Chennai, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Howrah, or New Delhi. Their frequent changes of location has become difficult for police to arrest. Members of the gang easily mix up with groups of people at railway stations, bazaars, and other crowded public places. They operate in small gangs of two to three members, occasionally including minors.
Their technique is that one of the gang members distracts the victim by running into them, chatting them up, or creating a jam in populous streets. Another member meanwhile applies a “covering technique” — concealing their hand behind a plastic bag, newspaper, towel, or handkerchief — to rapidly snatch the phone. A third member then quickly grabs the stolen item and disappears, leaving it extremely difficult for the police to track or retrieve the stolen phones.
A number of incidents have been reported lately in Chennai. On August 25, K. Veerapathiran of Madurai had his mobile phone snatched from his shirt pocket while purchasing a ticket at Guindy Railway Station. CCTV cameras captured a minor boy snatching the phone in a flash of seconds. The 12-year-old suspect from Bardhaman in West Bengal was apprehended by a joint RPF and GRP team at Beach Station on September 4.
In another incident on August 31, 67-year-old Vellaichamy, a hotel manager from the Elephant Gate, lost his phone when he purchased fish at the Ice Factory. The CCTV footage showed three people involved, including a juvenile. Three police personnel arrested Ramkumar (25) of Jharkhand, Suajkumar Nanoia (35) of West Bengal, and a 17-year-old West Bengal boy. They recovered three stolen phones from them.
The police have urged the public to stay alert in crowded places like railway stations, bus stands, malls, and markets. They emphasize that public awareness is very essential and can play a crucial role in curbing these thefts.