“Chacha ne salaam diya”“Aaj mausam kaisa hai?”To an outsider, these might sound like innocent banter. However as MIDC police in Andheri came upon final week, these phrases carried a really completely different message for the ‘Dhakka gang’ of pickpockets who ran a fastidiously orchestrated operation and had been arrested not too long ago. It was their code language to know if everybody was secure, if anybody had been caught or if they might go forward with the day’s planning.Cracking the gang’s communications provided police a glimpse of how secret gang communication has entered the smartphone age.DCP (west zone 3) Datta Nalawade, who led the investigations, stated the communication was much less about planning the theft than checking whether or not it was secure to proceed. “The aim wasn’t to debate the theft. It was to seek out out whether or not anybody had been picked up by police,” he stated.For so long as criminals have labored in teams, they’ve wanted a solution to talk with out alerting the individuals round them—or police. Mumbai’s thieves have, through the years, used particular languages, hand indicators, eye blinks, towels and pretend names. Right this moment, some have moved to coded WhatsApp calls and social media messages.
Mumbai’s thieves have, through the years, used particular languages, hand indicators, eye blinks, towels and pretend names
The chief of the Dhakka gang, whose members had specialised job titles and position assignments to execute thefts, reportedly contacted members each morning on WhatsApp utilizing a code that modified each day. Solely after the test would the gang determine the place to fulfill and which bus route to focus on. After two members had been arrested, the others shifted from Andheri to Juinagar in Navi Mumbai.Former police commissioner D Sivanandhan recollects gangs working in Mumbai within the early Nineties utilizing “particular languages”. Amongst them had been ‘Kepmari gangs’ from Tamil Nadu, who labored in teams of three or 4 on buses and trains. “They used a selected language to speak and handed over the stolen booty to others. Like a relay race, the purse or bag or chain would change fingers and vanish from the scene. They communicated via hand indicators or particular language or indicators,” Sivanandhan informed TOI.Over time, the indicators grew to become easier. A blink may imply hazard. A towel waved casually may sign a plainclothes policeman close by. A specific title shouted aloud may imply abort the operation.
This gang demonstrated intricate group, defining roles and modifying their communication codes each day.
“There was a time when gangs would meet at gardens, railway stations, bus stops or small inns,” stated Vanrai police senior inspector Abdul Rauf Shaikh, who was then assistant inspector with Mumbai crime department’s unit-10. That was the place they shared the day’s loot, determined the following day’s targets and stuck the code—be it blinking eyes after recognizing hazard or cops in civil gown, or flagging a towel cautioning gang members to take a again step.Shaikh stated a number of such gangs had been busted in 2017. Their members got here from completely different components of Mumbai Metropolitan Area and focused commuters in BEST buses however ensured all of them received off at completely different stops.“After I was posted with the crime department and Trombay police station early in my profession, there have been gangs that used completely different code indicators to speak and escape. However the frequent characteristic was that they referred to as their artwork of stealing ‘jaadu’ or ‘jhatka’,” stated ACP (Ghatkopar division) Shailesh Pasalwar.Even in 2022, eye contact remained extra helpful than cellphones for some gangs.Deputy superintendent of police (Mangaon-Raigad) Shashikant Pawar, who was then with the Mumbai crime department, recollects gangs travelling in teams of 4 or 5 on BEST buses with out talking. As soon as a goal was recognized, two or three members created a distraction whereas “the machine” stole the goal’s telephone or pockets. They then received off at completely different stops. The Dhakka gang adopted the identical sample.DCP Nalawade stated the staff that busted the gang—senior inspector Ghanshyam Nair, inspector Sunil Karande, SI Kiran Nawle and workers—came upon that members stole at the very least 5 high-end telephones a day and police recovered 135 telephones valued between Rs 90,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh. The thieves reportedly averted iPhones as a result of they had been tougher to unlock and had restricted resale worth of their meant markets in Bangladesh and Nepal.
