Cops bust 9-member child kidnap gang in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: The city police arrested a nine-member gang for allegedly kidnapping children and selling them in other places in the state. A total of five children have been rescued from the gang by the city police.

Based on a complaint received from a woman N Kanthamma in Gopalapatnam police station, the police nabbed the culprits. N Kanthamma complained that her two-year-old son Abhiram was kidnapped by an auto-driver Sekhar when she came to Simhachalam temple.

She came to know of Sekhar two days before in Paderu and exchanged the phone number with him. Later, the duo went to Simhachalam in an auto-rickshaw. When she went to a washroom, Sekhar fled from the spot with her child and her luggage.

B Nagamani, J Anand, T Sumanth Kumar, M Lakshmi, M Jyothi, Chandana Devi, Chandana Eswara Rao, B Rambabu and Mohammed Ziauddin were among the accused. They have been involved in abduction and selling the babies.

The accused tried to sell Abhiram to Vizianagaram, Bheemunipatnam and other places. While they were shifting the boy to Eluru, they were caught by the police on Thursday Under the guidance of Commissioner of Police RK Meena, the kidnap gang was busted by DCP-II Udaya BhaskarAdditional DCP (Crime) V Suresh Babu, among others. The gang kidnapped and sold babies for Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh to childless couples who wanted the children for the past three years.