Three members of attention diversion gang arrested in Hyderabad; Rs. 7.60 lakh cash recovered

Three members from a five-member attention diversion gang were arrested by the Hyderabad police and Rs. 7.60 lakh in cash was recovered from them

Hyderabad: Three from a five-member attention diversion gang, allegedly involved in 18 cases, were arrested by the Hyderabad police on Monday. The police recovered Rs. 7.60 lakh in cash, and seized 105 ATM cards, a car, a motorcycle, a fake ID card of police and three mobile phones from them.

Acting on a tip off, the Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force (south) team caught Vakil Ali (45) from Haryana, Farman (23) of Uttar Pradesh and Obaid Arif (30), of Hyderabad on Sunday evening.

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The trio along with two other associates Islami and Gullu, who are absconding, used to visit ATM centres located in busy areas and on pretext of helping senior citizens with cash withdrawals exchange the ATM cards with duplicate ones that the gang members carried with them. The gang members then used the genuine ATM cards to withdraw cash from ATMs or Point of Sale (PoS) machines and use the money to maintain lavish lifestyle, said DCP (south) Sneha Mehra.

The gang is involved in 18 cases in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka. Efforts are on to nab two of the gang members who are absconding.