Flashing gold to cheat

The Santa Cruz police have arrested four men, including two police informers, for allegedly fooling people by offering them gold biscuits for cheap rates and then pocketing the biscuits by posing as officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

Abdul Khan, 56, Shahadat Khan, 33, Sanjay Dhuru, 40, and Ravindra Devidas, 37, would allegedly spread the word through agents that they wanted to sell gold biscuits as they were in urgent need of money.

Two of them would meet those who evinced interest in buying the gold and flash one real gold biscuit during the meeting. While interacting with the prospective customers, they would either say that the gold biscuits were stolen booty or that they were purchased in the Dubai Shopping Festival, the police said. They would then request another meeting with the interested parties for finalising the deal.

“During the second meeting, the two would make it seem that they wanted to strike a deal in earnest. As the meeting progressed, two others from the gang, dressed in blazers, would pose as DRI officers who had come to carry out a raid,” Shaikh said.

The men acted so well that the “customers” believed that they were really from the DRI, he said.

The ‘DRI officers’ would create a scene and drag their two accomplices by their collars. They would then seize the cash and the gold biscuits, Shaikh said.

The police arrested the four while acting on a complaint registered by Malad resident Hemal Kakdecha, who was fooled by the gang earlier this month, the police said.

Kakdecha’s uncle had given him money to purchase gold for his cousin sister’s marriage. A friend introduced Kakdecha to Abdul and Shahadat. He was asked to visit Abdul’s residence in Santa Cruz “for a deal”. But at Abdul’s house, the gold and his money were seized by “DRI officials”, Kakdecha told the police.

Kakdecha, however, was not convinced that the men were from DRI and lodged a complaint with the Santa Cruz police.

“We have recovered a gold biscuit and cash from Abdul’s residence,” Shaikh said.
Abdul and Shahadat worked as police informers and knew how the police functioned, assistant inspector Jameel Shaikh said. The four seem to be part of a larger gang. They have committed many such crimes over the past five years, he said. The accused have similar cases registered against them in Vasai, Nashik, Surat and Goa, he said. “Abdul earlier duped people by exchanging fake foreign currency.” The four seemed to be part of a larger gang operating in Mumbai and other places, Shaikh said.