Dimapur bank heist mastermind held in Howrah

[caption id="attachment_215743" align="alignright" width="320"] GS Mudaliyar in the custody of Dimapur police. Mudaliyar is the main accused in a bank heist in Dimapur on July 19.[/caption] Eastern Mirror Desk Dimapur, Nov. 1: The kingpin of a gang of robbers that committed a heist outside the State Bank of India (SBI), Dimapur main branch on July 19, looting INR 80 lac in the process, has been arrested. After chasing for almost four months, the accused GS Mudaliyar (aged 60) was nabbed at Howrah train station on October 28, the Commisioner of Police Dimapur, Limasunep Jamir told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “Due to the persistent effort of the officers involved and excellent surveillance work, the kingpin was nabbed,” said Jamir. Jamir informed that those who pulled-off the heist were professional criminals from Trichy (or Tiruchirappalli) in Tamil Nadu and operated at an “all-India-level” in which their main skill is to use attention diversion tactics. As per statements given to the police on the day of the crime on July 19, the cash attendants and the driver of the cash-van were loading the money into the vehicle when unidentified persons approached them claiming there were few currency notes lying on the road possibly dropped by the cash handlers. This distracted the attendants during which the robbers escaped with the money. According to Jamir, this “modus operandi” was “sensational” as the crime was committed in broad daylight in which 11 members of the gang were involved and yet there were no eyewitnesses. The police officer claimed that the criminals were from a village in Trichy, ‘where the entire population of around 1500 families living in the locality are in the same profession of thievery and have committed theft in different parts of the country.’ In this connection the deputy commissioner of police (Zone I), Naeem Mustafa informed that in each gang there are multiple members that roam from place to place and commit these crimes. “Training starts at an early age consisting of 10-12 members from juveniles or as old as the kingpin that was nabbed, and they go around cities targeting banks, post offices, insurance companies,” Mustafa informed. He also said that after every theft, the gang would deposit 3% of loot to the ‘community account’, which would be used for court cases and bails. ADCP (crime), Relo T Aye informed that all CCTV cameras in Dimapur were checked for more than two weeks, the day after the crime, through which the police could identify the perpetrators. “We sent a team to Kolkata through leads and with the help of Howrah police we were able to nab the culprit,” Aye informed. The culprits spoke in different languages during the heist in Dimapur and not in their mother-tongue which showed the ‘professionalism’ of the gang, according to the ADCP. “The offenders knew the loose ends after doing a study of the place and surrounding areas,” Relo added and urged the public to be more cautious. The commissioner of police appreciated the Howrah Police and DGP Nagaland for the support and guidance provided while also encouraging banks and security agencies to follow standard operating procedures and protocols to avoid such incidents in future.