The Kurla Government Railway Police (GRP) on Wednesday arrested four persons who were employed as bag lifters by a gang and were getting monthly salary plus daily travelling and food expenses for stealing bags from passengers at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus.
The acccused have been identified as Mohommad Mauje Mansury (24), Mohommad Aslam Mansury (25), Mohhomad Alam Mansuri (21) and Jahid Saha (24).
For many months now, the Kurla GRP had been getting complaints from commuters about their bags going missing. The police then created a group to nab the culprits. Kurla GRP senior PI Vinod Chavhan said, “A few of the victims said that the accused took them near a slum area to meet a ticket collector and from there, the bags vanished. Accordingly, we laid a trap near the slum area and arrested the four accused.”
The accused revealed that they were being paid a monthly salary as well as daily expenses by the head of the gang. “They said they are from Uttar Pradesh and uneducated. Some of them are married and so, searching for jobs to feed their families. A man from their village suggested the four come to Mumbai where he would give them a job. Three months ago, they came to Mumbai and started working with bag lifting gangs for which they got Rs 100 per day for food and travelling and Rs 5,000 per month,” said Mr Chavhan.
“Every day, they would disperse on platforms and ask people whether they had confirmed their seats for long-route trains or not. If passengers said their seats were not confirmed, the accused would tell them they would be taken to the ticket collector who would confirm their tickets. Once the passengers agreed, they were taken to nearby slums where they were taken to a room and asked to be comfortable while the accused made away with their bag and baggage. Passengers would get confused and lodge a complaint with the police only after an hour or so,” said the police. Alternatively, the accused would convince passengers to keep th-eir luggage with a “friend”.
