Thiruvananthapuram: The city
police arrested 108 warrant
criminals including 14 most wanted ones in a
combing drive held here on Saturday. The combing operations that began on Saturday evening continued till the wee hours of Sunday.
Among the arrested is Unnikrishnan (55) who was declared as wanted 20 years ago. He is a resident of Thiruvallom. Anilkumar (45) a resident of Puthuval Puthenveedu near All Saints’ College, an accused in a bomb case was arrested after 16 years by Pettah police. Rajendran (50) a resident of Vattiyoorkkavu and Chandran a resident of Thirumala were arrested by Poojappura police after six years. Three other wanted criminals Madhusoodanan, Merlin and Ayyappan were arrested by Fort police and Vizhinjam police. Kazhakkoottam police arrested Gilbert, a resident of Thumba and Medical College police arrested Shyne Satyapalan.
During the drive, 247 persons were held for drunk driving. City police commissioner P Prakash said that steps would be taken to cancel the licence of those who drive after consuming liquor. Cases were registered against 1,030 persons for using mobile phone while driving, for not wearing helmet and for not using seat belts. The police also registered cases against 114 persons for smoking in public places and causing nuisance to public. The commissioner said that surprise checks will be conducted in coming days as well. DCP R Aditya, assistant commissioners of Cantonment, Fort, Shanghumugham, Kazhakkoottam and Traffic led the combing operations.
In another case, Museum police arrested a youth for bike theft. The arrested has been identified as Shaju (18), a resident of Vithura. He was caught riding a bike which went missing from Museum premises a week ago. The police tracked him after analysing the CCTV visuals. The police said that he had the habit of stealing bikes parked in public places.