The police arrested a four-member gang of robbers, belonging to Bihar, at Atmakur town in the district and seized gold and silver jewellery worth ₹16 lakh from their possession on Tuesday.
The modus operandi of the gangsters was to visit villages and rob innocent lonely women of their gold ornaments under the guise of polishing the jewellery at cheap rates.
They would make the women believe them and give their gold ornaments to be put in a jug containing some chemical. They reportedly would tell the women to let the gold remain in the jug for 20 to 30 minutes and then take them out in a polished condition. While putting the ornaments into the jug, the robbers used to allegedly steal them.
Superintendent of Police Vishal Gunni told mediapersons that the gangsters were involved in many offences spread over several districts in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. They were using sports motorcycles while committing the robberies to escape from the scene quickly.
Mr. Gunni said the gangsters would first choose a town near rural areas and check into a lodge. During mornings, they would go in batches of two on motorcycles to nearby villages and introduce themselves as ‘merugu’ workers or gold polishing workers.
The arrested gangsters were identified as Bantisha, 32, Jaganadhasha, 28, Devendra Kumar Gupta, 24, and Rakesh Kumar, 30.
The gangsters would carry out their plans only when they come across lonely women in households who would be tricked by first offering to polish the silver jewellery available with them.
