Hyderabad: Three attention diversion gang held

Hyderabad: The Mangalhat police on Friday nabbed three members of an interstate attention diversion gang involved in cheating a trader in the guise of exchanging foreign currency with Indian currency and fleecing him of Rs1.6 lakh a few days ago.

The accused were identified as Aman Khan (25), a chicken shop owner, Shaik Atif (29), a tailor and MohdAslam (32), a labourer, all residents of Chilukanagar in Uppal and natives of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.The other three members of the gang are still at large.

The police said, on April 5, the gang approached Md Sarwar (31), a trader in Nacharam with a few UAE dirhams claiming to exchange it into Indian currency and luring him with the huge commission. They took him to a spot in Puranapul, where they gave him a bag and took Rs1.6 lakh from him claiming the bag had the dirhams and walked away from the spot after trading the currency.

However, after a few minutes, when Sarwar opened the bag, he was shocked to notice that it had only newspaper bundles that were wrapped below a few dirhams. The victim then immediately approached the police and filed a complaint.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered and investigation began. During the probe, it is learnt that gang used to stay in rented houses and do recce of crowded places in major cities and identify people who could be targeted. They would show foreign currency for exchange with a low rate and then divert his or her attention and flee with Indian currency. The gang was also involved in similar cases in Saroornagar and Afzalgunj. The arrested ones were remanded to judicial custody, said the police.