MARGAO: It was his dream to own a Toyota Fortuner that led 21-year-old Mohammed Sarfaraz to steal gold chains from unsuspecting women, which finally landed him in the police’s dragnet.
Sarfaraz, a resident of Davorlim, along with his accomplice, 24-year-old Ajay alias Rooney, a resident of Ponda and native of Belagavi, were arrested by the Maina-Curtorim police recently. The chain-snatching gang, police sources said, has been involved in at least 15 cases across Goa.
Sarfaraz had a penchant for driving luxury cars and the Toyota Fortuner had caught his imagination.
He had set his eyes on owning the car of his dreams although he knew he couldn’t afford to buy one.
His lust for the car got the better of him and he resorted to stealing. To make his task easier, he chose what he thought would be soft targets – women.
Sarfaraz, with his accomplice, would stalk women walking alone on secluded streets and snatch their gold chains before fleeing from the spot. They would sometime use a two-wheeler while committing the crime.
The sudden rise in the number of chain-snatching incidents had baffled the police, who succeeded in obtaining a major lead in investigation when they identified Sarfaraz as the main culprit. Police teams were formed to nab the youth and a major breakthrough was achieved when Sarfaraz walked into the police dragnet on August 22. Subsequently, his accomplice, Ajay, was also arrested.
Sources said that a couple of days before his arrest, Sarfaraz had confided to his friends that he had “earned” enough to buy the “Fortuner” and that he would soon make his dream come true.
Police sources said the two accused would sell the stolen gold chains to Lilesh Lotlikar, a goldsmith based in Borda, Margao, who would melt the ornaments to destroy any trace of evidence that he had purchased the stolen booty.
Sarfaraz spilled the beans during police investigations and Lotlikar was arrested too. The police have so far recovered 182g of gold in molten form worth Rs 8 lakh from Lotlikar.
