TIRUCHY: On Saturday, Tiruchy police arrested seven persons who were pledging fake gold jewels with the pawn brokers.

Anbalagan (37), a resident of Anthanallur near Jeeyapuram in Tiruchy, worked for a pawnbroker in the locality. An unidentified gang came to the shop and showed him a few jewels. They told him they had over two kg of gold jewels and wanted to sell them. They also promised Anbalagan that the jewels would be sold for less than the market price and asked him for Rs 50,000 as an advance. Anbalagan said he would inform his owner and let them know.

The gang insisted on an advance amount, prompting Anbalagan to give them Rs 5,000. They gave him a gold biscuit and told him they would return with the jewels. Anbalagan inspected the gold biscuit, and found that it was fake.

He lodged a complaint with the Jeeyapuram police, who registered a case, and the police conducted a vehicle inspection in the Mukkombu area. When the police stopped a car on suspicion, the occupants gave contradictory statements.

The passengers were secured and identified as Sahaya Arockiadas (40) and Thangadurai (46) of Manapparai, Murugan (59) of Dindigul, Adam Settu (40) of Tiruvannamalai, Kanagaraj (46) of Kerala and Pandian of Cuddalore. They confessed to the crime. Based on the confession, the police registered a case against them and arrested the gang.