In the last two years, the city police arrested over 100 members belonging to about 20 inter-State gangs who operated across at least three states. They were into various kinds of criminal activities that ranged from dealing with fake Indian currency note (FICN) smuggled from Malda region of West Bengal and Bangladesh to house breaking and chain snatching and armed dacoity.
They hailed from various States such as Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
The worrying factor for the police is that a few of the gangs were armed and could have caused huge damage if they were not arrested before they could strike.
Last year, in a joint operation with the Odisha police, the city police arrested two notorious gangsters Sushil and Sushant Dhal Samant, who were holed up here in posh Kirlampudi Layout and the police recovered a carbine and one 9 mm Mauser Pistol and 35 rounds of ammunition.
About a month ago in another joint operation with West Bengal police, the city police arrested two members of a nine-member gang from Bihar and recovered five automatic .32 foreign make pistols, one local make tapancha, 80 rounds of .32 and 6 rounds of 9mm.
“This apart, there were about five more cases, where we recovered arms ranging from country-made tapanchas to pistols,” said City Task Force ACP I. Chittibabu.
Modus operandi same
The modus operandi for the gangs has been almost similar. First they make a recce of the city and select one or two locations to settle down. In most of the cases it has been seen that they select the locations at the extreme ends. If some of gang members take a house on rent at Gajuwaka area then the others move into a house at PM Palem. But they make it a point to meet at a common place, mostly crowded public places such as RTC Complex or RK Beach, to plan their move, said Mr. Chittibabu.
