Three cab drivers held for stealing handbag from Chennai airport

The arrested were identified as Duraisamy (55) of Nanganallur, Balaji (58) of Tondiarpet and Rajesh (35) of Pallavaram. The police recovered two mobile phones and land documents which were inside the bagfrom the trio.

The victim, Kamaladevi (40) of Thirumazhisai, who returned from Dubai on August 23, forgot her handbag in the parking lot while boarding a cab at the airport. When she found that the bag was missing, she returned to the airport and enquired with the security personnel. After they told her no such bag was found, she filed a complaint with theairport police.

The police went through the CCTV footage and found three men walking away with the bag on a trolley. The police who identified them and found out that they were cab drivers. On Wednesday, all three were arrested and remanded in judicial custody.

A 55-year-old man from Nagapattinam, who was on the economic offenders list of the State police for 22 years, was detained by the immigration officials at the Chennai airport on Wednesday.

When the officials were checking the documents of passengers of the flight bound to Singapore on Wednesday night, they found that Thamaraiselvan of Nagapattinam was an economic offender wanted by the Nagapattinam police.

Sources said that Thamaraiselvan was working as a clerk in a corporative bank in 1996. He had swindled several lakhs of money by using fake signatures and escaped from the district. Based on a complaint, the police were searching for Thamaraiselvan from 1997 following which then Nagapattinam SP sent a look out circular to all the airports across the country. A police team from Nagapattinam would reach Chennai to arrest Thamaraiselvan, they added.