The Mumbai crime branch arrested history sheeters who pretended to know strangers to steal their valuables from the Crawford market on Sunday. The men, identified as Sanjay Dattaram Mangde (46) and Naresh Vijaykumar Jaiswal (40) would visit marketplaces and call out random common names to attract his target's attention and would steal the person's valuables while engaging in a conversation with them, The Times of India reported.

According to the police, the duo committed 143 offences in the past 20 years. They were arrested earlier but would jump bail and skit court hearings. An officer with the crime branch said that they were 'proclaimed offenders'.

As per their modus operandi, the duo would visit marketplace in search of their targets and call out common names such as 'Raju' or 'Pappu'. If their target is a Gujarati, they would call out names such as 'Ketanbhai', 'Shah' or 'Mehta'. Once someone falls for their trap, they engaged with them in a conversation and hypnotise them after which they steal the jewellery they are wearing and other valuables. When the victim tries to come in terms with what happened, the duo would escape after apolosing for 'mistaken identity'.

On Sunday, a team of police officers laid a trap after getting a piece of information that the duo were planning to target tourists visiting the Crawford Market.

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