Mangalore, March 24, 2013:
With gold prices soaring high robbers have found new ways of posing as police to exploit the gullibility of women and rob them of their gold to make quick bucks. While this was a common practice in cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai and Bangalore, these robbers have now come to Mangalore and have been using this ploy in Mangalore and Udupi and with considerable success. For the last two days four such incidents of robbers posing as police/CBI officers in mufti and decamping with gold from women have been reported from the coastal districts of Mangalore and Udupi.
The ploy these robbers in the guise of police employ is simple and lonely and gullible women are their target. These robbers spot lonely women on the streets and narrate a story saying they are police officials in mufti carrying out investigations about a murder in the locality. They caution their prey that she is not allowed to wear gold and she should put it in her bag. These robbers then help by giving her a piece of paper to put her gold and then put the same in her bag for safety reasons. The unsuspecting woman realizes she has been hoodwinked by the men in disguise only after going home.
Such an incident was reported on 22nd and 23 March from Mangalore city from Kottara, Kodialbail V T Road and Ballalbagh. Sumati, a sixty year old woman was robbed of her gold chain and bangles in similar fashion when she was carrying lunch box to her grandson at Canara High School, in Mangalore. The robbers who were in the bike called her out saying they have been investigating the murder of a teacher by name Sharada in the vicinity and that she is not allowed to wear gold while moving in that area. Just as she was talking to them a man removed his chain from the neck and put it in his pocket. Sumati took a clue from him and followed what the ‘police’ advised her. She put her gold chain and bangles in a paper extended to her by these robbers and put it in the bag. But her instinct told her something was wrong as the robbers were in urgency to run away from the area. She opened her bag and found that an artificial chain in the paper in which she had wrapped her gold chain and bangles.
A similar incident has also been reported from Ballalbagh, said to be by the same gang where a 70 year old woman was also hoodwinked in a similar fashion.
It may be recalled that in a similar incident on Friday near Kottara Chowky, a woman lost Rs. 1.4 lac worth gold to robbers in the guise of policemen.
Luckily, the images of the thieves have been caught in a CC TV in Infosys campus at Kottara which might help the police to catch the culprits. The police have released the picture of one of the thieves and have cautioned people especially women to be on their guard and not to fall prey to these robbers posing as police officials.
