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Has AK-47 arrived?
 A
few days ago, on the outskirts of Chennai, near Pallikaranai, three criminals
had entered into a pawnbroker-cum-jewellery shop at 7.30 p.m. in the busy market
place, threatened the owner and workers at gunpoint and decamped wife jewels
worth about Rs 30 lakh. This has sent shockwaves among the police personnel not
because of the fact that it was a robbery committed in a busy marketplace but
mainly because of the fact that the criminals had used guns to carry out the
robbery. Normally, in all the robberies that had been reported so far, the
criminals had used only knife and other sharp-edged weapons to threaten the
inmates, whereas, in this particular robbery, the criminals had used guns to
terrorise the inmates.
Previously, in a very few
robberies like the one which had occurred in a jewellery shop at Vellore, Tamil
Nadu, the criminals had used guns and even had shot dead some of the inmates.
But in all these cases, the criminals hailed from other states. But in the
Pallikaranai robbery, the eye-witnesses informed that the criminals had spoken
the local Chennai language which means that Chennai criminals have got access to
guns.
During the time when the
robbery had occurred, there was only one buyer bargaining for some jewels and no
customer was inside the jewellery shop. This had created a suspicion among the
policemen about the customer. The shop owner also informed that the buyer was
chewing some tobacco and went out after some time to spit it. But within minutes
of his coming back inside after spitting the tobacco, the criminals had entered
the shop and committed the robbery.
 So,
the policemen had taken the buyer to the police station and grilled him. When
they checked his pocket, the man had only Rs 150. How can anyone buy jewellery
with just 150 Rs, the police wondered. This has also strengthened the suspicion
of the policemen about the buyer. After the usual "police treatment",
the man spilled the beans.
The buyer had informed the
policemen that a few days before the robbery, three men, all in their early 20s
and looking like college students, approached him and said they wanted to look
at the jewellery shop. All they wanted him to do was to go as a buyer to the
shop and when there was no customers in the shop he should give a signal by
coming out and spitting the tobacco. After getting this clearance, they would
enter the shop and commit the robbery.
According to their game plan,
they had executed the robbery perfectly and disappeared with jewels costing
several lakhs of rupees. But the buyer confessed that he did not know the
address of the criminals and revealed their names, which were also found to be
false during investigations. The culprits' fingerprints were lifted from the
scene of crime but the policemen could not match them and so they suspect that
since the criminals were in their 20s, they should be first-time
offenders. Having no other clues, policemen are keeping their fingers
crossed with the fear that the criminals might strike at any time.
Another disturbing feature of
the crime is that the shop-owner had lost nearly Rs 30 lakh of jewels which were
not insured. Most of the jewels had been pledged by the public and it is a big
question as to how the owner is going to compensate the poor people.
 There
have been several cases when owners of some jewellery shops, wanting to swindle
the several lakhs of pledged jewels in their possession, giving false
complaints to the police that they had been robbed at knife-point. But, later
investigations had revealed that the complaints were false and the jewels were
recovered from the owners. Policemen have investigated the Pallikaranai crime
even from this angle but it was confirmed that it was a genuine robbery.
A police officer, seeking
anonymity, said the criminals had used AK-47-type rifles and not handguns. Only
Sri Lankans are accustomed to using such guns but since the criminals had spoken
the typical Chennai lingo, the involvement of Sri Lankans has been ruled out.
Since election is round the
corner, policemen did not leak out the secret of "use of AK-47" to the
media as they feared it would raise several uneasy questions. Tamil Nadu has
been a peaceful haven but the surfacing of these sophisticated rifles could
create serious problems to the safety of the residents.
Already, in Salem, a Congress
VIP was shot dead by criminals during a dacoity. Last year, two persons were
shot dead by criminals in a jewellery shop at Vellore during a robbery.
Recently, a DMK functionary and a watchman were shot dead by the criminals
during a dacoity at Thiruverkadu, on the outskirts of Chennai.
In all these cases, the
criminals are still at large and the needle of suspicion points to some
inter-state criminals. But in this case, for the first time, guns were used by
Chennai criminals and if it is not checked, gun culture may raise its head in
Tamil Nadu. It is high time the policemen found the source of these weapons and
nipped the problem in the bud.
Harvey
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