Snatchers land in IGI from Pune, held

GURUGRAM: Two

snatchers

who stole from

senior citizens

and were wanted by

police

in at least six states were nabbed at IGI airport on Thursday, moments after they had arrived in a flight from Pune, the city of their latest conquests.

Babbu and Imran Malik, both from Pasonda in Ghaziabad, targeted elderly morning walkers and hopped from state to state, staying in one place for only a short period, so that their crimes did not reveal a pattern.

Gurgaon police had been on their trail since January 10, when they had approached a 70-year-old former Armyman Bhagwan Das Mata with a ‘namaste uncle’ and snatched his gold ring. The Ridgewood Estate resident was out on a morning walk at the time. They also subsequently robbed Ashu Abhishek, a doctor and Manohar Lal Sharma of cash, gold chains and mobile phones in the DLF 4 and Sector 56 areas. Soon after the crime, police scanned CCTV footage of the areas and identified the main accused. They went to his village in Ghaziabad and managed to get his cell phone number, and put it in on surveillance.

Police said they were involved in at least 20 cases of snatching in several parts of the city in the recent past. The gang, cops said, has a third member too, who is absconding.

Police said the gang was active in five states — Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It was the same modus operandi everywhere. They would rob

senior citizens

out walking. After committing a series of crimes in one city, they would shift base. They would transport their two-wheelers, a Bajaj scooter and a bike, by train to their next destination. During interrogation, the accused told cops they committed the crimes to make easy money to support their lavish lifestyle.

Sumit Kuhar, DCP (crime), said, “Sub-inspector Sandeep Kumar was monitoring their movement. On Thursday afternoon, they were in Pune and later in the evening, they took a flight to Delhi. As soon as they landed, our team arrested them. The third accused has been identified as Lala, the owner of one of the two two-wheelers that was used in the crime. On Friday, we produced the duo in a city court, which gave us custody for four days.”

He added, “The accused are school dropouts. They started cheating people in 2010 on the pretext of selling them laptops and subsequently took to snatching. Elderly citizens were easy prey. Imran had spent some time in Tihar jail, Bhondsi jail in Gurgaon and Bengaluru jail in the past on charges of snatching and robbery.”