Interstate criminal gangs eye Tamil Nadu as cash-rich state

Coimbatore | Salem| Namakkal: While a disturbing trend has now emerged that points to the distinct possibility of interstate criminal gangs, mostly from north India, targeting Tamil Nadu as ‘land of great opportunities’, the state police has bucked up resources-both human and technical-to strike back and pick up a few scalps.

On December 10, bandits used gas-cutting equipment to break open two ATMs near Peelamedu and take away about Rs 30 lakh in two cars that bore fake north Indian registration plates. Seven special teams were deployed on the trail of the gangs, whose identities could be sketched out based on the CCTV footage from cameras installed near the ATMs. Also, intensive vehicle checks were carried out with focus on vehicles with registration plates of other states, police said.

What followed was like straight out of a Kollywood cop thriller. Police teams found that the thieves had slipped into neighbouring Kerala and were waiting for the right time to drive through the highway up north. And then the patrol teams on the Salem-Madurai highway picked up late Wednesday night information that two cars were speeding towards Namakkal and set up road blocks.

At about 0330 hours, one car smashed through a barricade at Keelambur about seven km from Namakkal and sped away without stopping .The police gave a chase of about 10 km and managed to block its way at Bommakuttamedu village. Its three occupants abandoned the vehicle and ran towards the nearby Palapatti village. In the early morning mist, not much was visible.

“I got two drones to help us. One was to operate over the village and the other was to circle about one km radius to ensure we keep the fugitives within this area and prevent them from reaching the NH (highway) as that would make it easy for them to get lost among the many north Indians working as truckers and poultry workers”, said Ara. Arularasu, Namakkal SP.

One drone picked up Salman alias Mubarak, 30, from Baratpur in Rajasthan, from the terrace of a house in the village. Locals helped overpower the man who in any case did not offer much resistance. He told the police that his two mates were hiding in the corn field not far away.

“Our dog picked up the spoor pretty well, cutting across the village roads and the corn field. It first led us to the slipper of one fellow and thereafter, our men could encircle the four robbers and nab them”, said the SP. The arrested four were identified as Suber (19) and Amithkumar (25) from Haryana, Mustak Ithiris (32) from Uttar Pradesh and Julebikiri (25) from Bihar.

Sources said the men had a country-made pistol with them but did not use it as they saw they were hugely outnumbered by the police who were armed.

“Besides, over 100 villagers actively participated in the combing operation to help the police. Though we had orders to shoot if the fugitive opened fire, there was no need for that as these fellows gave up without resistance”, said a senior officer who was part of the operation.

Within a couple of hours, luck struck the police in Salem as they spotted a mini-truck carrying Rajasthan registration. The truck had crowbars, screwdrivers and other implements used for breaking through ATM machines. Its three occupants were nabbed.  

The truck, police said, was following the two cars at some distance, at slower speed. It was used by the gang for carrying their tools and rations for cooking on the route. It also had bedding to provide resting for the members in turns, police said.

“The coordinated heists undertaken by these robbers from different states in the north make us suspect that a larger canvas of crime exists, which has some notorious gangsters planning and executing the hits, and for disposing the loot in the north. We are checking out on the various leads”, said a senior officer.

It may be recalled that Inspector S. Periyapandi of Maduravoyal station in Chennai was shot dead Wednesday at Rampura village in Bali district of Rajasthan when he went along with a police team to nab the Nathuram gang involved in a Kolathur pawn shop burglary.