Trickster gang can rip open luggage on trains

BENGALURU: With a complaint received recently from Yeshwantpur railway station from two passengers about the valuables inside their luggage stolen despite it being intact, the Government Railway Police (GRP) are keenly watching out to nab the ‘Haryana gang’ they suspect to be behind the crime. Meanwhile, they are simultaneously creating awareness among passengers on board to stay clear of these confidence tricksters.

The gang, which began operations in Bengaluru in 2013, targets reserved seats, particularly those travelling in AC coaches. Operating in groups of three or five, they purchase tickets to travel in reserved coaches and befriend gullible public.   

Circle Inspector, GRP, Lakshmi Narayana Prasad told CE, “The simple strategy adopted by this gang is to appear respectable and public usually mistake them for military men and trust them.”

The gang begins its operations when the destination of passengers is arriving. “Many passengers rush and stand near the door with their luggage well before the arrival of the station. A gang member travelling in the same coach tells the passenger to go and sit inside and he will take care of their luggage. Prior to that, he would have intimated his gang members travelling in other reserved coaches to come near his coach,” said Prasad. 

Explaining the modus operandi, Superintendent of Police, GRP, Bhimashankar Gulad said, “They have small sharp instruments with which they slash the zip portion of any suitcase or bag, even if it is locked. After removing the gold, money or anything valuable inside, they zip it back. It does not look like anyone has touched it. Only after passengers reach home and open their luggage, they realise they have been duped.”

The Circle Inspector explains that when the valuables are being taken from the bag, the other members encircle this individual so that the act cannot be seen by anyone. The passenger alights at the station with the luggage suspecting nothing.

Circle Inspector said, “The passenger realises after reaching home that their valuables are missing and come to us. However, it is too late and the thieves would have escaped.“

Prasad added that the GRP has readied a profile of all the 91 people we suspect to be part of the gang and have shared it with railway police across South India as they operate in long distance trains in Karnataka, AP, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. They usually stay in lodges and alight at stations in the outskirts of the City with the valuables they have stolen.

“The GRP here has so far nabbed 10 of them during the last three years and we are constantly looking out for the rest. They all belong to specific villages in Haryana, where male folk have been committing crimes for decades,” he said. The police have also readied a video on it to caution public about their operations.