Hyderabad chain snatchers escape to Bhopal through RGI airport

Hyderabad: Members of a notorious chain-snatching gang that targeted women in Hyderabad weeks ago used to travel by flight. Irani gang kingpin Murtuza alias Damar, 30, from Bhopal came to Hyderabad several times along with his gang-members, indulged in chain-snatching, and escaped via RGI airport.

Son of Babar Ali from Sanjaynagar Colony, Irani Dera in Bhopal, Murtaza recruited only his relatives into his gang to ensure loyalty. He revealed his gang's air-borne and bike-borne operations in a confession to cops after he was arrested by the MP police.

He said he also took the help of his mother, father and maternal uncles who live in Bidar, to sell the snatched gold. Police says Murtaza and his gang-members are well-trained bikers. Untrained members of the gang will be given the task of moving the snatched gold from one place to another.

Murtaza told Jehangirabad police in Bhopal that he had been to Hyderabad in the last week of September along with four others and targeted more than 10 victims in different areas. The gang used to stolen bikes, which were later left at railway stations. They would then leave the city in a previously booked flight to another city.

Murtaza confessed to have targeted as many as 76 women in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai in six months. “When they leave for Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore, they would leave their mobile phones along with SIM cards in Bhopal. They would purchase new SIM cards along with new mobile phones, and destroy these after the offence is committed. This is to avoid the police tracking them using cell phone towers during the investigations,” said an official from Bhopal police.