The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Police on the alert against chain-snatching gangs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 15, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Police on the alert against chain-snatching gangs

Staff Reporter

On the prowl early in the morning and evening rush hours

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Increasing incidents of chain snatching have become a cause of concern for the district police.

On Thursday morning, two incidents of chain snatching were reported from Sreekaryam. Two youths on a motorcycle snatched the chain of Balan, a local resident, who had gone to buy milk in the early hours of the day at Kalluvila junction. In the same area in the evening, two unidentified persons travelling on a motorbike waylaid a local resident, Sheela, and robbed her of a gold necklace.

In 2004, as many as 90 robberies were reported in the city. Most of them were instances of chain snatching or waylaying of pedestrians. As many as 74 of the cases were detected and the stolen property was recovered.

Up to March 2005, 10 instances of robbery were reported in the city, of which eight were detected by the police. In all the cases, the accused had used stolen motorbikes or two-wheelers hired from agencies that rent vehicles for their operations, police said. Some of the accused persons were drug addicts while the others were looking for easy money to fund their expensive lifestyle, an official said.

Several instances of chain snatching were reported last month from Fort and Thampanoor police station areas. The victims were mostly women returning home from work.

Chain snatching incidents are reported in the city mostly during the evening rush hours. Of late, chain-snatching gangs have started targeting people who venture out in the early hours of the day for exercise or to visit places of worship, police said.

The police have intensified patrolling in areas such as the Venpalavattom-Eenchakkal National Highway bypass and also the Vellayambalam-Kowdiar stretches where hundreds of people go for their morning walk.

A senior official said the `Ranger' motorcycle patrol groups have been alerted against chain snatching gangs travelling on two-wheelers. He said pedestrians, particularly women, would be safer if they moved in groups.

It was best if women used footpaths wherever possible, because it would remove them from the "striking distance" of chain snatchers who travel on motorbikes.

The police suspect that some persons who had come out of jail recently after being arrested on the charge of robbery were behind the recent instances of chain snatching in the city.

The police are also planning to deploy plainclotheswomen at bus stops and crowded junctions in the evening in a bid to tackle the crime. An official said that policemen in mufti would be deployed in public transport buses.

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