Fourteen incidents of gold chain-snatching were reported on Thursday from across the city, especially in residential areas of southern and western suburbs, a senior police official said.
"About 10 cases of chain-snatching were registered in Malleshwaram and Rajajinagar localities in western and two cases each in southern and eastern areas by victims, mostly elderly women," additional commissioner of police M. Salim told IANS.
The modus operandi of the unidentified snatchers is to target old and lonely women walking early morning or late afternoon when not many people are seen on roads.
"We have intensified patrolling, stepped up vigil and deployed more personnel in areas where the cases were filed and other vulnerable localities," Salim said.
Though no arrests were made, preliminary investigations and interrogation of some of the victims indicate that the suspected snatchers hailed from neighbouring states as they were herd conversing in Hindi, Marathi and Telugu.
"We are examining footage of a dozen closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras located at vantage points in the affected localities to ascertain if the snatchers are part of a same gangs operating in the city," Salim said.
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CCTV footage aired on a couple of local news channels captured some snatchers approaching the victims in pairs, with one riding a bike and the other diverting their attention or stopping them to ask for address location.
"We are on the lookout for some of the gang members seen in the footage and hope to get a breakthrough in the next 24-48 hours," Salim added.