2 weeks, 4 robberies: ‘Iranian gangs’ of Gurugram operating in Noida too?

NOIDA: Four cases of robbery in the past few weeks by a group of “fair and well-built” people have prompted police to probe if the Iranian gangs notorious in Gurugram and Delhi have been operating in Noida too.
In the past two weeks, at least three Iraqis who had come to India on medical visas were targeted in Noida. Two weeks ago, 37-year-old Faris Sabeeb Talab, who is from Dibris in Iraq, was robbed of $30,000 he was carrying in a belt tied around his waist. The money, which amounts to over Rs 20 lakh, was meant for his younger brother’s treatment at Jaypee Hospital in Sector 128. Faris has told police that two of the accused persons appeared to be foreigners while a third was possibly a local.
Bhuvnesh Kumar, the SHO of Expressway police station, said a few days earlier, two foreigners had stolen Rs 17,000 from the cash box of a Gopal Dairy outlet after engaging the manager in small talk.
“They were identified as foreigners. We are looking into the possible involvement of Iranian gangs that have committed several robberies in Gurugram and Delhi. As they have been targeting medical tourists and the modus operandi appears to be similar, we are verifying the possibility of the same gangs entering Noida now,” he said.
Interpreters for Iraqi tourists in Noida, however, said there were two more failed robbery attempts, one of which was captured on CCTV.
Abdul Waris, who has been assisting Faris in communicating with the hospital authorities, said that on July 10, Ahmed, an Iraqi national who too had come to Jaypee Hospital for his daughter Renad’s treatment, was approached by four men in a white car. “At least three of them were foreigners, possibly Iranis or Afghans, while the driver seemed to be a local,” Waris said.
The gang posed as policemen and sought to frisk Ahmed for drugs. “When he shouted at them that he would call his interpreter, they sped away,” Waris said.
Some of Waris’s friends have been targeted in Gurugram and Delhi, too. “Recently, robberies with similar modus operandi have occurred outside Artemis Hospital in Gurugram, Living Style mall in Jasola, etc. Many a times, these foreigners would take the targets into confidence claiming they are in need of money or want to go back to Iraq. They will indulge people in small talk, ask them to show Indian currency and exchange the wad with duplicate notes,” he said.
A few weeks ago, 62-year-old Nazimmudin, who works as a medical assistant in Iraq, too was approached by the gangs at least twice.
“Three men in a white car claimed to be Turks and approached me. They had a driver, who didn’t look like a foreigner. They claimed to be from Istanbul, but when I spoke to him in Turkish, they failed to respond. They asked me for money, but I sensed trouble and told them that I have left the money in hospital,” he said.
Police issued a warning not only for foreigners but also locals. “In most of the cases, it’s all about tricking the targets. Since they are not Indians, it is not very easy to track them,” Kumar said.
Gautam Budh SSP Vaibhav Krishna said Noida Police were in touch with their counterparts in Gurugram to track down the gangs.