Hyderabad police on Monday busted a dacoity gang of nine, including a juvenile, which waylaid a jeweller in Shah Ali Banda and escaped with 11 kg silver on the intervening night of April 17 and 18 (last Wednesday and Thursday).

The gang members snatched away a bag containing the silver after sprinkling chilli powder into the eyes of Azhar, who was returning home after closing his shop in the area, said Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar.

He said that the juvenile, who worked at Azhar’s shop earlier, bore a grudge against the latter as he used to harass him. He along with the kingpin Mohammed Nizamuddin (34) and seven others hatched a plan and committed the offence.

The gang split into three groups and the minor shared the information about Azhar’s movement with Nizamuddin.

“As per their plan, the three groups kept an eye on Azhar from three different routes. One of them waylaid the victim, who was on his bike, near Jaganathswamy temple and one Asif tried to snatch the bag from his hands but he resisted. Asif then punched his face and another accused Khaled sprinkled chilli powder on Azhar and his associate and decamped with the bag,” Mr. Kumar said.

After that, they shared the jewellery. A major part of the jewellery was kept with other accused Salman and Jilani, he said. Based on the video footage of the area, the Commissioner’s Task Force (South) team led by Additional DCP S. Chaitanya Kumar and inspector K Madhu Mohan Reddy identified the offenders. The property was recovered intact. The accused along with the recovered booty were handed over to Shah Ali Banda police.

Burglar held

In a separate case, the South Zone Task Force team apprehended a 23-year-old youth in connection with two housebreaking offences in Chandrayangutta and Bhavani Nagar police station areas. Police recovered nine tolas of gold ornaments.

The accused was identified as Syed Waseem, a centring worker from Vattepally in Falaknuma.

Earlier, Waseem was arrested for committing offences in Falaknuma and Santoshnagar. He started committing the burglaries after he was released from jail in December 2018.