Four in burkhas who moved around in car to steal gold from jewellery stores held

MUMBAI: Four women from Malegaon have been arrested for allegedly stealing gold ornaments from jewellery stores by masquerading as prospective buyers. While the police have confiscated a car that this gang of four used to move around, some of the ornaments have been recovered from them.
The women -- Sajada alias Bashir Ansari (30), Nazia Shaikh (50), Nasreen Shaikh (50) and Yasmin Khan (35) – had committed similar crimes and were caught in Kurla, Bhandup, Mumbra, , Nashik and Hyderabad, the police said.
The gang ran out of luck when they left Shivam Jewellers, a store in Byculla, with four bangles worth Rs 2.5 lakh on September 5, said the police.
While one stood outside the store, three went in, all in burkhas, to check out ornaments.
They would distract the counter staff by checking out jewellery pieces. “They wore them on the neck, or bangles in the hand and would walk out with ornaments hidden under the sleeve of the burkha,” said senior inspector of Byculla police station, Dinesh Kadam.
After the women had left, jeweller Nilesh Jain found two bangles worth Rs 2.5 lakhmissing. He registered an offence. Based on CCTV footage, the police got the car number in which they had come. The police said said they had kept watch on certain mobile numbers.
Last week, when the car drove into city limits, the police detained the women and brought to Byculla police station. The jeweller identified the four women after which they were arrested.