Gang robbed foreigners in Delhi Police disguise, carried guns in holsters

Police said the gang of four had recently duped a Mongol woman and her daughter of their cash and valuables while they were headed to a hotel in Paharganj from the airport in a cab.

They wore police uniforms, carried pistols in holsters, fake Delhi police ID cards, rode on motorcycles and wore helmets to hide their faces, had adequate knowledge about police work and spoke both Hindi and English fluently. The gang of four, including two Iranians, used the disguise to rob and cheat foreigners and senior citizens. However, on November 30, they met actual cops, who busted their racket.

Police said the gang of four had recently duped a Mongol woman and her daughter of their cash and valuables while they were headed to a hotel in Paharganj from the airport in a cab. (HT File Photo)

Police said the gang had recently duped a Mongol woman and her daughter of their cash and valuables while they were headed to a hotel in Paharganj from the airport in a cab.

Four fake police ID cards,each having photo of the suspect with their name and rank (inspector) written on it, were seized along with two fake police uniforms from the arrested men. Two motorcycles and two loaded country made pistols that the arrested men used in the crimes, 10 stolen cellphones and foreign and Indian currency notes were also recovered, said deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Devender Arya.

The arrested Iranians – Nasir Salim and Nasir Sayah – came to India from Tehran, stayed in Delhi for almost a month during which they committed robberies along with their Indian counterparts, before flying back to their country.

“The Iranians not only communicated with their foreign victims in English but they were fluent in Hindi. Their communication skills and knowledge about the policing made their victims believe that they were genuine officers,” said a police officer, associated with the operation to bust the racket.

Police identified the two others as Jafar Saifullah, a native of Maharashtra’s Thane, and Akbar from east Delhi. All four were caught on November 30, from near a bus stop in Mehram Nagar police colony near Delhi airport. The four have been working together since the past four months. The two Iranians had first come to India on September 23, and stayed till October 30, during which they committed over two dozen robberies. They had come to India again on November 23.

Explaining their modus operandi, another officer associated with the investigation said, on November 28, a Mongolian woman and her daughter were travelling in a cab when four men in police uniform, on two bikes, stopped the car. They introduced themselves as inspectors in Delhi Police’s crime branch and asked the driver and foreigners to cooperate them in a routine checking.

“While two of them went to search the car’s trunk, the other two searched the purses and bags of the two women. They took out 5,500 dollars, 40,000 Mongolian currency notes and 4,000 Indian notes from their bags. When the the victims protested, the four fled on their bikes,” said the officer, cited above.

A case was registered at the Delhi Cantonment police station on the complaint of the Mongolian woman and investigation was taken up. During the probe, it was learnt that similar robberies were reported in the past few days as well. Several teams were formed and the footage of CCTV cameras installed on all routes leading to the airport were scanned. The investigating teams collected information about the suspects and deployed police personnel in plain clothes.

“On November 30, the suspects were seen in Mehram Nagar area. They were surrounded and caught from near the police colony bus stop,” added the officer.