Mumbai Crime: These thieves used auto rickshaws to snatch chains

Ashfaq Mushtaq Ansari and Altaf Akhtar Ansari

After the police cracked down on bike-borne chain snatchers, a group of thieves changed their modus operandi and started using auto-rickshaws. However, even this couldn't keep them away from the cops. The Govandi police have arrested four of them, including two minors, for their involvement in more than a dozen chain-snatching cases.

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According to police, two of them have been identified as Altaf Akhtar Ansari and Ashfaq Mushtaq Ansari. The minors were roped in as their fathers owned auto-rickshaws. However, they never got a share of the booty, but were given drugs instead. They have been sent to the correction home in Dongri. Speaking to mid-day, Shashikant Mane, senior PI, said, "The minor boys were lured with a free supply of drugs. They helped the gang by moving along with them in their fathers' auto-rickshaws." Interrogations of the accused have revealed that the gang was involved in a number of chain-snatching incidents in Mankhurd, Delmar, Tilak Nagar, Govandi, Shivaji Nagar, Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg.

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