Case diary: When women gold snatchers gave cops headache

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A pregnant woman, a drama and sleight of hand. The modus operandi of a group of women chain snatchers had it all.

It was after weeks of probe that a team from Perumbavoor police station nabbed three women from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli who were part of the gang that stole gold chains from people in buses and hospitals in Perumbavoor town. They only targeted senior citizens.

The gang had become a major headache for the Perumbavoor police right from the first week of December. The station started receiving complaints from people saying their gold chains were stolen from public places.  A probe found that the gang comprised several women who would create some kind of a drama in public to deviate people’s attention and rob them.

The women would first deploy a pregnant member of their gang in a public place. She would faint and collapse, prompting everyone in the vicinity to rush to her. In the chaos, the other women would steal the chains from the senior citizens. 

“Tracking and nabbing them proved challenging as the gang members kept changing after every crime. They only targeted senior citizens. We had to wait nearly a week for three of the gang members to walk into our trap,” said Perumbavoor SI R Renjith.

“We deployed teams on key spots around town and told the staff of private and KSRTC buses as well as autorickshaw drivers to inform us about any pregnant woman loitering alone in public. One day, we got a call that a woman matching our description was standing in a busy spot in town.

Our team in mufti reached the spot immediately and started monitoring her movements. It paid off,” Renjith said. The women Devi, 39, Shanti, 27, and Anu, 22, were arrested. “We have launched a detailed probe to track the other gang members. All hailed from Samayapuram in Tiruchirappalli,” the police said.