THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Four Iranians, suspected of committing a robbery in Alappuzha, were arrested by Cherthala police with the help of Cantonment police personnel in Thiruvananthapuram city on Wednesday evening.
Majid Sahebiaziz (32), Einollah Sharafi (30), Davoud Absalan (23) and Mohsen Setareh, (35) were taken into custody from a hotel in the capital early on Wednesday morning; two of them had expired passports. Later, it was found that they were wanted by Cherthala police in connection with a burglary that was reported at a shop on Tuesday. The gang had allegedly stolen Rs 34,000 from the shop.
The gang had approached the staff at the shop seeking help to exchange their foreign currency. Their modus operandi was to approach financial firms, especially money exchange firms, in the guise of currency conversion, distract the staff and deftly steal money. Their act was caught on surveillance cameras installed at the shop.
Commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay said that the four men were part of a bigger gang of 24 Iranians, who had reached the country in January 2020 in different groups. From Delhi, they split into smaller groups and travelled to different parts of India and even neighbouring Nepal. After a similar crime was reported in Puducherry city police had alerted hoteliers to keep an eye on suspicious foreigners.
Cantonment police station house officer Inspector BM Shafi said that he detained the foreigners after he was alerted by the manager of a luxury hotel where they were staying.
“The hotel manager informed us that they were not carrying proper documents and I went there for an enquiry. Two of them were carrying expired passports. They told me that they will be receiving renewed passports within a few days,” he said. The officer collected copies of their identity documents and shared it in a WhatsApp group that coordinated activities of shadow policemen in state.
The policemen at Cherthala identified them following which the four were detained and brought to Cantonment police station. By Wednesday evening, the policemen from Cherthala turned up and secured their custody.