Hyderabad: Commuters opting for auto rickshaws should be extra cautious about protecting their valuables while travelling. A gang of offenders are moving about the city targeting unsuspecting auto travellers and skillfully snatching away their valuables. The gang posing as regular passengers, boards a ‘sharing’ auto which has the victim and overcrowd it to a point where the victim does not know how his pocket has been picked. They operate in the early morning hours between 6 and 7 am, said the police.
Explaining their modus operandi, DSI of Kacheguda, Jayanna said, “They usually target their victims from outside Nampally and other railway stations. Once a victim is identified, they approach them with an auto which already has their men boarded as passengers and ask the person where he/she is headed. The auto driver invites them in by quoting an affordable amount. On the pretext of helping them load their luggage, they make the victim sit away from the bags and then another gang member, posing as a commuter, boards in, blocking the victim’s view of his belongings. The auto driver then steals the valuables from the bag.”
The police had nabbed an Uttar Pradesh native earlier who had conned several people. “In yet another case, an auto driver was booked on Friday for cancelling his ride midway stating technical issues as a reason, only to go back to the passenger’s residence to commit a theft”, said the North Zone DCP, B. Sumathi. Police officials seized gold ornaments and cash from his possession worth around Rs 5 lakh.
Gopalapuram police had last month arrested the ‘Kala Kavva’ gang that was involved in robbery and theft of cell phones and other valuables from passengers travelling in auto-rickshaws. “Mansoor , the gang leader, drove the auto-rickshaw with his associate sitting next to him. They used to target persons waiting at bus stops. After a person boards, he would stop the vehicle and ask his associate to sit behind so that he is ‘not caught by the traffic police’. Two more men of their gang would board the auto and divert the attention of the passenger somehow while Mansoor picked up the phone, and wallet from the pocket of the passenger. After the theft, the passenger was asked to get off as he was ‘overcrowding the auto’”, added Ms Sumathi.
“The gangs operated during late nights once upon a time but have now shifted to early morning hours. The public is requested to stay alert and mind their belongings and valuables while boarding a public transport, The offenders operate in different ways and with varied methods to con the public”, said a senior police officer.
