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Hot pursuit: Chain snatcher tries to outrun police in swamps, held after three hours of chase
According to the police, on June 17, a woman was on a routine morning walk in Achole when the accused, identified as Hasan Afzar, 24, came on a motorcycle, snatched her gold chain and fled. On the same day, three other chain-snatching cases were reported in the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar (MBVV) region.
Mumbai: The police on Wednesday waded through the swamps in Ambivali, Kalyan, for hours to arrest a chain snatcher who covered himself in muck and camouflaged in a marshy patch. Twenty-five gold chains worth ₹10 lakh were recovered from his house.
According to the police, on June 17, a woman was on a routine morning walk in Achole when the accused, identified as Hasan Afzar, 24, came on a motorcycle, snatched her gold chain and fled. On the same day, three other chain-snatching cases were reported in the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar (MBVV) region.
After acquiring the CCTV recordings of all four spots, the police identified Afzar, an on-record criminal, who has more than 25 cases of chain snatching registered against him in MBVV, Mumbai and Thane areas.
Acting on a tip-off, the police zeroed in at Afzar’s house in Iraniwadi, Ambivali, and reached the area to arrest him. “Dressed in casual clothes, our officers entered the area. However, sensing the hostility of the locals, the officers had to return to the local police station,” said an officer from the crime branch at MBVV.
With the help of the local police, the MBVV police officers then reached Afzal’s house, the officer added. However, he said that since the police team was already seen in the locality earlier, residents of the area already alerted Afzal about the scenario.
“On reaching Afzal’s house, we found out that the accused had jumped through the window of his house and fled into the swamps behind the building. We chased Afzal into the forest area and waded through the swamps for hours to locate him,” added the crime branch official. The team of eight officers went in different directions to track down Afzal.
After going through almost every corner of the swamp spread over around two square kilometers, the police officer managed to spot Afzal who had covered himself in the muck and was hiding in a marshy patch.
Police officer Shivaji Patil was the first to apprehend Afzal and drag him out of the marshy land. “Afzal tried to assault Patil, but for around five minutes Patil held on to his slippery shirt until his backup arrived. After more than three hours of searching and tracking Afzal through the swamps, we managed to arrest him,” said the officer.
Afzal was arrested for the alleged robbery and was brought back to the crime branch unit.
