CHENNAI : Police have arrested a four-member gang of mobile phone snatchers, including a college student, in Velachery.
The gang has bought two high-end bikes with the money they got from selling snatched cellphones.
Police said they had also used the new bikes for snatching mobiles even before they received the registration numbers of the vehicles.
The arrested have been identified as Jaison, 20, Magesh, 20, of Semencherry, Naresh Kumar, 20, from Okkiyam Thoraipakkam and Saravanan, 42. Naresh is pursuing BSc second year at a private college in Kelambakkam while Saravanan owns a mobile phone service centre in Pallikaranai.
Police seized five mobile phones and two bikes from them.
On Sunday, the gang targeted Venkatesan, 40, of Rani Nagar in Nanmangalam. They snatched his mobile phone while he was walking on the road. He could not notice the bike registration number as they sped away. Based on his complaint, the Pallikaranai police launched a search for the gang.
Police who received series of complaints regarding cell phone snatching browsed CCTV footage from the area and found three men on two bikes involved in snatchings in the locality.
On Sunday during a vehicle check, police detained Jaison and based on the information given by him they arrested Mahesh, Naresh Kumar and Saravanan.
Police said Mahesh, Naresh Kumar and Jaison would snatch smartphones from people walking alone and hand over the phones to Saravanan. The gang would also steal aluminum pipes and iron rods from gates of houses during the night and sell them. They would commit robbery almost daily to buy ganja, police said.
Jaison has been involved in the murder case of one Pradeep in Perumbakkam. “They were evading police arrest until they got the registration number for the bikes. In most of the CCTV cameras the bike’s number plate was empty,” said an investigating officer. Their modus operandi was to steal bikes from localities in Velachery and Pallikaranai, use it for snatching mobiles and abandon the vehicles at deserted stretches.