In the guise of helping them remove the gold

Making a mockery of the claims of increased security in the wake of the Dilsukhnagar twin blasts, thieves are striking at will all across the city; that too posing as cops. In the last fortnight, pseudo cops struck eight times and escaped with property worth Rs 11 lakh.

The modus operandi of the gangs is simple, although they improvise from case to case. Posing as cops, they approach a passerby wearing gold jewellery and tell him/her that a serious crime has taken place in the area. While at times they say a murder has taken place, at other times they use the ruse of chain-snatching. The 'cops' then reprimand the victim for wearing gold in such unsafe circumstances and tell them to remove the jewelley and keep it in a newspaper or polythene bag for safety. In the guise of helping them remove the gold, they slyly exchange the packet containing the gold with another containing fake ornaments. Sometimes, in order to gain the confidence of the intended victim, the gang enacts the same process with one of their team members on the road.

In this manner, pseudo cops struck at eight places, including Marredpally, Rikabgunj, Lalaguda, Amberpet, Abids and Barkatpura during the past fortnight and escaped with gold ornaments worth Rs 11 lakh. Police suspect that the gangs could be either from Bidar area of Karnataka or from Bihar. A special team of north zone police even went to Bihar but failed to find any useful leads.

"In one of the incidents, we found an abandoned bike belonging to the offenders. But the registration number turned out to be fake and the chassis number too had been erased. We suspect that a certain Irani gang, whose members are staying in Parli & Bhiwandi of Maharashtra and Zaheerabad and Guntakal of AP, could be behind the thefts. Our teams are trying their best to nab the offenders," additional CP (crimes) Sandeep Shandilya told TOI.

Even as the cops scramble to crack the case, they are also left red-faced by a series of attempts to break open ATM machines in the city. In the last two weeks, there were five incidents of gangs trying to break open ATMs of various banks in Shaikpet, Manikonda, Trimulgherry and Barkatpura. Despite having the images of the culprits, police have not been able to make a single arrest.

This year's awards ceremony will be hosted by the Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore and the awards' founder Dr Tessa Hartmann.

Jewellery nominee Georgia Wiseman said of the awards: "I am delighted to be part of this year’s Scottish Fashion Awards. For the first time the ceremony is being held in London and I’m so excited to be part of the Scottish invasion alongside some of Scotland's best-known names in fashion.

"To be nominated for Accessory/Jewellery Designer of the Year is a fantastic honour, I launched my first ever luxury fashion jewellery collection earlier this year and this is the ultimate compliment”.

Designer Jane Gowans has also been nominated for this year's awards. She showcased at work during London Fashion Week in February and has also won Harvey Nichols in Edinburgh as a stockist. She said she was thrilled at the announcement.

Designer Catherine Zoraida has also made this year's list of nominees. Her work recently joined the line-up of jewellers selling through Fortnum & Mason's jewellery room, while her jewellery has been worn by the likes of Kate Middleton and Laura Whitmore.
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