Posing as Customs officers, gang robs forex centre staff of Rs 27 L in Egmore

In the latest incident on Tuesday, a group of five men reached the Prince Plaza on Pantheon Road around 6.30 pm in a car. They went to the Asha international Forex on the first floor. Kaja Mohideen (35) and Nazir (35), sons of the forex centre owner Hamid Meeran (55) of Pudupet, and two other staff members, Mohammed and Bashir, were present in the shop when the gang entered.

“They introduced themselves as Customs officials and asked all of them to board their vehicle for an ‘inquiry.’ After taking them to Island Grounds, they threatened them to part with Rs 27 lakh to set them free,” said the police. While the victims did not have the huge amount of cash with them, the gang relieved Mohammed alone to bring the cash. He returned to the shop, got the amount and gave it to the gang. Following this, they released others and escaped in the car, said the police.

Based on a complaint by Hamid Meeran, the Egmore police have registered a case and collected CCTV footage in and around Island Grounds for further investigation.

It may be recalled that on March 14, a group of men posing as election flying squad robbed the employees of a construction firm of Rs 1.07 crore by intercepting their car in Saidapet. The police are trying to trace the suspects in the case with their mobile phone numbers, said sources. A similar incident was reported in Kilpauk on March 9 in which a gang robbed an MTC passenger of Rs 98 lakh posing as police personnel. The Kilpauk police arrested six suspects in connection with the case at Chennai airport on Tuesday, when they tried to escape to Goa and partly recovered the robbed sum.

The police have also warned the public to be cautious as several fraudsters are making use of the model code of conduct (MCC) that is in force ahead of Lok Sabha elections to loot the public.