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G R Sindhu
Chennai, May 16:
 

        Isolated areas in suburbs of Chennai have become an easy target for gang which waylay people. In all these cases, the victims were mostly women who were either returning home from work during late hours or early morning.

        Following series of such robberies, residents at Tambaram and Selaiyur are having sleepless nights.

        The statistics listed out by the police last month points out that the victims have lost 50 sovereigns of gold jewellery in waylaying incidents and house break- in.

        Last month alone, there were three incidents of chain- snatching reported from Selaiyur and two incidents of house break- in. Two youth on a motorcycle snatched the chain of one Sowmya, a local resident, who had gone to buy milk in the early hours of the day.

        In the same area on 26 April, two unidentified persons travelling on a motorbike robbed Mouli of her gold necklace, when she was returning from church at Mahalakshmi Nagar. On 22 April, two armed motorist took away a five- sovereign gold chain of one Anitha Nair.

        From January to April 2007, 15 instances of robbery were reported, of which five were detected by the police. In all the cases, the accused had used stolen motorbikes or rented two-wheelers for their operations, police said. Some of the accused persons were drug addicts while the others were looking for easy money to fund their expensive lifestyle, a police official said.

        However the officials say that they have intensified patrolling in suburb areas.

        A senior official said the motorcycle patrol groups have been alerted. He said pedestrians, particularly women, would be safer if they moved in groups.

        It was best if women used footpaths wherever possible, because it would remove them from the striking distance of robbers on motorbikes.

        The police suspect that some persons, who had come out of jail recently after being arrested on the charge of robbery, were behind the recent incidents.

        The police are also planning to deploy plain clothes police women at bus stops and crowded junctions in the evening in a bid to tackle the crime. An official said that policemen in mufti would be deployed in public transport buses too.