Irani gang held, bikes, cash seized

Hyderabad: The police has nabbed a notorious three-member Irani gang known for robberies through attention diversion techniques on Friday. The gang had been robbing people in Telangana, AP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu since three years. The gang, which also used to cheat people claiming to be the police, was involved in several cases in Hyderabad. Police seized Rs 10 lakh and two bikes from them.

The arrested men were identified as Shabbir Ali, 21, Sheik Hassan, 39, and Huju Ali, 20. Additional DCP Koti Reddy said the gang belonged to the Guntakal village in Anantapur district, and had settled at Pirani Bada in Bhiwandi of Maharashtra. They formed a gang under one Yaser Ali, who is absconding.

“They usually target lone women wearing gold ornaments. They stop women, and introduce themselves as cops in mufti. After that they will warn them that chain snatchings were frequent in the area, and ask them to remove gold ornaments, and to keep it in their bag. When victims remove ornaments, they divert their attention and replace the gold with a fake one,” said Mr Koti Reddy.

The gang diverts attention by asking victims to wrap the gold in a paper provided by them. After they wraps the gold in the paper, a gangster will draw their attention towards him, while another will replace the packet with a similar packet containing spurious gold, police said. Police officials said they also used to commit thefts in shops and target people when they came out of banks after withdrawing money.