Gangs now use genius, not guns

Their tricks won’t leave you amused. You would repent your decision to watch their moves. Several gangs are active in Ahmedabad, trapping people with their unique acts. The gangs would impress you with their novel ideas and escape with your cash and jewellery.

The main objective of such gangs is to escape with anyone’s belongings by diverting their attention. “Most of the gangs involved in such acts try to divert the attention of their targets and once they succeed in that, they escape with the belongings of their targets,” deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, Brijesh Kumar Jha told DNA.

Jha said people belonging to some specific communities commit these crimes. “We have made a list of such history-sheeters belonging to specific communities and arrested many of them,” a crime branch official told DNA. 

Some of such gangs active in the city are - the bikers gangs, who escape with money after asking for any address from its target, a gang which tries to rob women of their gold ornaments on the pretext of washing it with a chemical, another gang which escapes with gold ornaments by asking its target to take out all the gold jewellery and keep it in a purse.

Giving shine to gold jewellery
The gang usually targets women when they are alone in their homes, mostly in afternoons. The gang basically is Ahmedabad based and works in smaller groups of one or two. “The members of the gang can impress anyone with their oratorial skill. They would ask their targets to take out jewellery from almirahs and give all the jewellery to them so that they could wash them,” a crime branch official told DNA. The crime branch has busted many such gangs. However, they crop up at regular intervals. “The gang would first ask for metal utensils in the house and later when they find that the target is satisfied with the result, they would ask her to give the jewellery also,” police source said.

Police raid is on
One more gang uses tricks to take out the ornaments worn by you. The members of the gang speak Hindi and Marathi. They usually travel in autorickshaws, AMTS buses or any other mode of public transport. “They also target lonely women or senior citizens and later try to scare them about a police raid,” a police source said. “If their target is convinced and takes out jewellery and keeps them in a purse or bag, the gang members try to become their friends and take away the jewellery without getting noticed,” the police officer said.

Bhai, is this Rs50 note yours?
Bhaisaab, your Rs50 note is lying there. If your hear this, don’t assume that the person calling you is an honest person and wants to help you. This is the modes operandi of few gangs active in the city. “They usually divert the attention of their targets by throwing a currency note near them. The person once moves towards the currency note, his or her bag or cash and jewellery is taken away by the other gang members,” a crime branch source said. The gang first identifies the person who is carrying a cash or jewellery and later on tries to divert his attention by throwing a currency note near him. “This is a very old trick, but still works and people are deceived every time as the person who carries out this trick are too smart to be judged by the target,” police source said. 

Where is Dharnidhar Derasar?
If someone asks you about any landmark or about a hospital, beware, they may be trying to snatch your bag containing cash. “The gang usually follows people who come out of banks with cash and targets them when they get their chance,” a crime branch official said.