The Hindu : New Delhi News : T.N. bag lifting gangs descend on Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 27, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

T.N. bag lifting gangs descend on Delhi

Devesh K. Pandey

Robbers target people outside jewellery shops, hospitals, banks and crowded markets

NEW DELHI: Investigations into recent cases of bag-lifting here have revealed that several well-organised gangs from Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are active in the Capital.

According to a senior police officer, the gangs from Tamil Nadu mostly hail from villages located near Trichy. They come to Delhi in groups before the onset of the festive season, commit thefts, and return to their villages with the booty.

Cases where women have formed gangs to carry out bag-lifting by employing their own children have also come to light.

Criminal elements from Bhopal and Gujarat are also operating in the Capital. In a case cracked by the South Delhi police, the involvement of Sri Lankan immigrants living in flats allotted to them by the government has been found.

In one case, the police found a Sri Lankan running a school to train children in the "art" of committing thefts and bag lifting. "The gang leader even gets the `freshers' arrested once or twice to check if his `trainees' are adept at hiding information from the police," said a police officer.

These gangs target people outside major grain godowns, jewellery shops, big hospitals -- where patients come with huge amounts of cash -- banks, bus terminals and crowded market places like Karol Bagh, Lajpat Nagar and Sarojini Nagar.

Even tourists outside Indira Gandhi International Airport have not been spared. They gang's main aim is to lift bags containing foreign currency and also passports bearing American visas, which can fetch them a hefty sum.

Some gangs specialise in lifting costly electronic items like laptops and video cameras.

A study of the incidents of bag-lifting has revealed that gangs have developed different modus operandi to target people using different modes of transport. In the case of pedestrians, they mostly divert their attention by throwing dirt at them. Subsequently, a gang member offers help to the victim in getting his dress cleaned, while the others picks up his luggage and vanish from the scene.

For those riding bicycles, the miscreants use strings to block the wheel and then lift the bag while the rider is busy checking his bicycle.

To target those using two-wheelers, bag lifters apply some muck on its handle or seat. As soon as the rider's attention gets diverted and he keeps the bag containing money away to get rid of the muck, the miscreants flee with it. The police have found that these gangs also employ children to block the exhaust pipes of vehicles using radish or potatoes, to divert the attention of prospective preys.

There have been instances where bag lifters moving in vans have used catapults to break the rear windscreens of four-wheelers to divert the attention of occupants. As soon as they alight from the vehicles to check, the other gang members take away the belongings. However, mostly they divert the attention of the victims by asking them for directions.

In one such case, a woman Member of Parliament belonging to the Congress party recently lost a bag containing a huge sum of money.

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