Sleuths of the crime branch of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police went to great lengths to nab a chain snatcher recently at Ambivali in Thane district. They mixed up in the community as fruit sellers, eatery owners, an autorickshaw driver, and did not shave and bathe for weeks, wore tattered slippers and soiled clothes, just to conduct recce for 15 days in the area. Once they managed to catch hold of 24-year-old Abbas Amjad Irani, the cops literally carried him on their shoulders for over 500-metres to avoid locals attacking them, and then crossed railway tracks to arrest him.

A source in Crime Branch unit-2 told mid-day that Irani was involved in chain snatching cases registered at Manikpur police station last February. The police went to Ambivali to arrest him but his gang-members alerted the whole community. The cops returned empty handed.