MADURAI
Madurai City police have arrested a four-member gang that was allegedly involved in a series of chain snatchings and burglaries and recovered 158 sovereigns of gold jewellery from it.
A 29-year-old man, who was reportedly involved in buying and selling stolen jewellery from the gang, was also arrested, while two other such buyers are absconding.
According to a statement issued by the police, the gang was nabbed when a team from Subramaniapuram police station detained four men on suspicion at Palanganatham in the early hours of Thursday.
During questioning, the police identified them as S. Ravichandran, 42, of Sikkandar Chavadi, N. Pandiarajan, 38, of Thanakkankulam Main Road, and M. Lakshmanan, 29, of Jaihindpuram in Madurai, and B. Babu Arumugam, 42, of Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district.
The police said Ravichandran had as many as 83 chain snatching cases against him in nine districts. The four reportedly confessed to snatching chains from people in different places in the city and committing burglaries under S.S. Colony and Subramaniapuram police limits.
Based on the information they provided, M. Sandeep (29) from South Avani Moola Street, who was allegedly involved in buying and selling stolen gold, was arrested by the police. The police are on the lookout for two more persons.
The police recovered a total of 158 sovereigns of stolen gold jewellery and two stolen motorbikes. Two knives and eight cellphones were also recovered from the gang.
