Police busts gang of robbers who dressed as women to loot truckers in Allahabad

Police in Handia town of Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad district have arrested a member of the gang that “honey trapped” truck drivers by dressing up as women and looted them of their cash and valuables on gunpoint, officials said on Monday.

They said the arrested robber confessed that he and his gang members looted truckers when they stopped their vehicles after seeing “women” waving at them to stop on the highway, particularly at night.

Inspector of Handia police station Anil Kumar Singh said he received information about incidents of loot on the highway in the trans-Ganga area around 15 days ago. Singh and his team nabbed Saleem on a tip-off on Saturday after raiding a village in Handia police station area.

“Some months back, Saleem was sent to jail in some other crime cases and had come out on bail a few months ago,” Singh said.

“The gang has looted about 40 truckers on the Allahabad-Varanasi highway in the past three months,” he added.

No one lodged a formal complaint as the robbers looted only cash and valuables and not the truck or goods in it but Singh took help from police informers to get a clue about the looters.

Police are now hunting for the three other members of Saleem’s gang.

“While many truckers used to ignore these ‘women’ (robbers) on the highway, some of them used to stop their vehicles to offer a lift to them, but got looted on gunpoint,” Singh said.

“Some prostitutes were active at some roadside eateries on the highway some years back. It is possible that some drivers may have stopped their vehicles assuming the ‘women’ (robbers) to be prostitutes,” he added.

Uttar Pradesh, with the longest road network among all states, accounts for the highest number of highway crimes in India.