With the arrest of 13 persons, Thane Police on Thursday claimed to have solved at least 40 cases of robbery, theft and chain snatching in the city.
Additional Commissioner of Police Satya Narayan said stolen goods worth around Rs 20 lakh were seized from the accused's possession.
Three of the arrested men were involved in chain snatching incidents while others were involved in robberies, he said.
The accused targeted senior citizens, he said. Their usual modus operandi was to engage the person in conversation, especially on religious matters, and rob them.
One of their victims was a retired 75-year-old police officer, he said.
In view of rise in this kind of crimes, commissioner of police Vivek Phansalkar had instructed police to take immediate action.
Four teams had been formed to probe these crimes, Satya Narayan said.
Two of the accused are from Gujarat while others are from Thane district, he said.
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