Nepali robber gangs give sleepless nights to Hyderabad police

Nepali gangs posing as domestic help loot wealthy Hyderabad homes, drugging or robbing families before fleeing across the Nepal border, leaving police struggling to catch them

Hyderabad: Transnational gangs of property offenders operating between India and Nepal are currently giving sleepless nights to the city police.

The members of these gangs, popularly referred to as Nepali gangs, get employed as domestic maids, cooks, watchmen, and caretakers with affluent families — only to turn into robbers overnight, looting property worth crores of rupees.

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A few weeks ago, a family in Kachiguda was drugged and robbed by a five-member Nepali gang engaged in household chores. The gang made away with Rs. 60 lakh in cash and one kilogram of gold.

For nearly 25 days, police teams have been searching for them, but they have not yet managed to apprehend the offenders. The teams have travelled across different states and alerted the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which mans the India-Nepal border, but their efforts have not yielded results.

In previous instances, the police succeeded in arresting Nepali gangs involved in similar crimes. However, one or two members, often in possession of nearly half the stolen property, still remain at large.

The biggest challenge lies in the gangs’ swift escape across the Nepal border immediately after committing the crime.

“With meticulous planning, we can catch the gangs before they cross over to Nepal. Once they are across, it’s extremely difficult to track them,” said Kalapathar Inspector Khaleel Pasha.

Explaining the modus operandi, Task Force Inspector S. Raghavendra said one member of the gang first gains employment at the target house and, after earning the employer’s trust, brings in other gang members under different roles.

“Once an opportunity presents itself, they rob the house and flee,” he said.

In some cases, the gangs served food laced with sedatives to the employer’s family before committing the crime. In others, they waited until the employers left for a vacation or attended a function.

The police have urged citizens to use the HawkEye mobile application to upload and verify the credentials of domestic helps and drivers before employing them. They also advised employers to collect valid identity proof.

Criminals Vanish Without a Trace After ATM Loot, Hyderabad Firing

It’s almost four months since two armed robbers shot at and injured a manager at a travel agency at Afzalgunj, the duo remain elusive.

On January 16, a few hours before the shooting at the manager, the two men shot and killed two security guards and looted Rs 93 lakh at an ATM centre in Bidar before heading to the city. They boarded a bus at Afzalgunj in the city and the manager got suspicious on seeing the bags stashed with cash and questioned the duo when one of them fired at him before escaping with the bags.

The police formed several teams and coordinated with the Bidar police as well to track them. Nevertheless, although the men were identified the police could not arrest them so far as they did not leave any trace behind after the incident.

“They are highly professional. For more than two years, they had not visited their home to meet family members. We suspect they might have gone underground. However, we are still on the job and will nab them sooner or later,” said an official of Hyderabad police.