Even as a special police team recently apprehended a 10-member gang allegedly involved in a string of chain snatchings in city, such crimes continue to persist in city limits posing a challenge to the law enforcers.
A couple of chain snatchings reported in quick successions - one in the early hours on Wednesday and the other a few days earlier – is a pointer to this recurring crime.
The offence on Wednesday took place in the early hours in the dense residential locality of Woraiyur. A 47-year-old woman was engaged in drawing ‘kolam’ in front of her house at Keezha Saraya Pattarai Street at around 4.45 a.m. when a man-clad in ‘lungi’ struck when public movement was nil in the early hours.
The culprit, police said, snatched the gold ear studs worn by the woman in a flash. Within no time, the culprit also snatched a gold chain weighing eight sovereign from her. Even before the woman could raise an alarm, the culprit decamped from the spot with the booty.
The woman sustained bleeding injuries in the ear in the snatching incident and had to undergo treatment in a private hospital, the police said. The culprit is suspected to have fled along with his accomplice who was reportedly waiting in a motorcycle a few metres from the crime scene.
The daring manner in which the culprit struck came as rude shock for the family of the woman working as an accountant in a private medical unit. The crime took place in Woraiyur Crime police limit.
Days earlier, a motorcycle-borne duo reportedly snatched five sovereign gold chain from a woman at Vaikasi street in Ponnagar area. The woman was returning from a shop when the culprits struck.
The two incidents in quick succession only points to the fact that chain snatchers continue to be on the prowl and strike at will within the city limits notwithstanding the arrest of a gang recently.
A series of such offences reported in various parts of the city in the recent times prompted the law enforcers to constitute a special team to apprehend the culprits involved in such offences.
Based on inputs pieced together, the team arrested a 10-member gang and recovered stolen gold jewellery weighing 51 sovereigns besides six motorcycles from them. The leader of the gang – Chandru - was a history sheeter who was involved in different crimes including murder, say the police.
The remaining culprits were also previous offenders who were alleged to be involved in a string of chain snatchings within the city and on the outskirts. The gang is also alleged to have stolen motorcycles using which the robberies were committed.
Notwithstanding the arrest of the chain snatching gang, the crime doesn’t seem to have been curtailed if the two instances in quick succession is any indication.
The special team constituted to go after chain snatchers continues to function, says a senior police officer adding that some more criminals needed to be nabbed.
