Thane cops arrest chain snatcher

The police have arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with multiple chain-snatching incidents and solved as many as nine cases across Thane city, an official said on Wednesday. The accused, identified as Salman Firoz Khan, was apprehended by the Crime Branch following an intensive investigation involving technical surveillance and analysis of CCTV footage, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Amarsingh Jadhav told reporters.

The police have recovered 10 g old chains, collectively weighing 100 gm and valued at around Rs 10 lakh, in addition to a motorcycle worth Rs 80,000 used in the offences, he said. On April 11, four separate incidents of chain-snatching were reported in quick succession within the limits of Naupada, Rabodi, and Vartak Nagar police stations in Thane city. A special team from Crime Branch (Unit I) was formed to investigate the sudden spate of crimes, he said. The team collected CCTV evidence from crime scenes, utilised technical inputs, and deployed local intelligence to trace the movements of suspects, said the DCP.

Police initially learned that Khan, suspected to be behind all four chain-snatching incidents of April 11, had absconded to Ajmer, Rajasthan. However, the team tracked him to his native location in BKC and ultimately nabbed him from Naupada, where he had returned with the motorcycle used during the chain-snatching spree, said Jadhav. The same motorcycle had earlier been flagged in an FIR related to robbery on February 23. 
The two-wheeler has since been seized, police said.

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