An analysis of the snatching incidents reported from the city in the recent years and they have one thing in common —perpetrators in majority of the cases are youth who drive fast bikes wearing helmets and target lonely or elderly women at isolated spots.

And the most disturbing factor, according to the police, is that the perpetrators commit the crime in a sequence to make easy money so that they can feed either to their bad habits or luxurious lifestyle.

Last week, four chain snatching cases were reported in the city within a radius of 5 km on a single day and police suspect that they were committed by a gang of two youth.

According to a senior inspector at Central Crime Station, the trend merges that the criminals have a penchant for fast bikes as it enables them to commit the crime in a jiffy and scoot at higher speed, even before the victim can realise what has happened.

Since 2015, we have busted around 10 such gangs and in all the cases, the perpetrators were riding fast bikes.

In two cases, the bikes used by them were stolen ones, he says.

Police say that the perpetrators prefer to wear wither helmets or caps to conceal their identity to evade the CCTV cameras as the digital surveillance in the city has got quite a boost in the recent years.

CCTV footage

In a few cases, the miscreants were identified from the CCTV footages. Now, they are trying to avoid being identified and they have found solutions in the headgears,” explains ADCP (Crime) V. Suresh Babu.

In a few cases reported recently, some miscreants even had changed the vehicle registration plates, he says.

Modus operandi

As per the police team in CCS, the offenders usually make lonely and elderly women their easy target. Most of the chain snatchers conduct recce for a day or two, waiting for the opportune moment of finding their targets at isolated spots during odd hours.

Many women go to temples early in the morning or in the evening and the chain snatchers seize the opportunity. In some cases, the victims are morning or evening walkers, says a police inspector.

Addiction to vices

An analysis done by the CCS has revealed that six out of 10 chain snatchers are youngsters, who commit the crime to make easy money.

Most of the perpetrators are addicted to alcohol, drugs and gambling. The moment money is over, they plan to commit a crime to feed their vices. There have been a few crimes which were committed in the spur of the moment. Such impulsive behaviour due to addiction is dangerous and it can go to any extent, says M. Suresh Babu.