Invasion of chain snatchers: Bike-borne miscreants arrive from Madurai, Salem

Coimbatore: Chain snatchers from faraway places like Madurai and Salem are increasingly targeting the district. The affluent, crowded urban localities give them an opportunity to strike and flee within minutes.
Police have arrested two power loom unit owners from Salem, who rode all the way to the city on motorcycles last week to snatch a six-sovereign gold chain from a 73-year-old Peelamedu resident. S Lawrence, 30, and S Jagadeeswaran, 32, of Ammapet in Salem wanted to make some quick cash after their business suffered a huge loss, deputy commissioner of police (crime) P Perumal said. “They snatched a gold chain from V Sarojini, who was on the way to her home from a shop on November 11. The Peelamedu police registered a case and formed a special team to nab them. Police checked some CCTV footages and identified the registration number of the motorcycles. A team rushed to Ammapet and arrested the duo,” he told TOI.

Police had arrested Lawrence for chain snatching in 2011. But a court acquitted him.

Four chain snatching incidents were reported from across the city on a single day last month. Two men on a motorcycle snatched a seven-sovereign gold chain from a Kadampadi resident on October 24. They later relieved a Chinathamanipudur resident of her 11-sovereign chain. The miscreants then snatched a two-sovereign chain from V Divya of MGR Nagar at Sundarapuram and a three-sovereign chain from T Sulochana of Arul Murugan Nagar at Podanur. Later, the duo snatched a 2.5-sovereign chain from K Sumathi of Kothari Nagar at Singanallur and the 10-sovereign mangalsutra of P Ponnuthai of VOC Nagar near Ganapathy.

Police collected a CCTV footage that showed the miscreants in action. They have sent a special team to Madurai to nab them.