Goa hunts for fake cops with fetish for gold (Crime Feature)

For someone who sells sinewy, locally bred cocks and hens at the local market, the buxom, jewellery-laden Julley Fernandes, 62, didn't know that she could be a sitting duck for conmen. On her way back home in August after a selling her organic poultry at the iconic market at Mapusa, 15 km from here, Fernandes was stopped by two men who identified themselves as policemen.

"They told me that a woman had been robbed nearby and asked me take off my jewellery and put in my bag for safekeeping. They even helped me hurriedly pack the jewellery in the pouch. But when I went home there was nothing in it," Fernandes told IANS, recalling the incident.

A similar modus operandi has been reported from Delhi and other cities across India. Police suspect that some of the members of these gangs are people described by police as "Iranians" who shuttle between Navi Mumbai, Goa and other cities. Some have even begun calling the group the "Iranian Gang".

Fernandes' plight is not a rare one. More and more women across Goa have over the last few months begun falling to such conmen, posing as caring policemen, who trob women, claim the police.

"These imposters act as if they are policemen and tell the woman a fake story, usually that a woman in the same area has been robbed, and caution her against wearing jewellery. And then the crooks steal from the same woman," Deputy Superintendent of Oolice Lourence D'Souza said.

The string of such thefts has prompted the police to issue an advisory asking Goans to be cautious about such 'fake police' gangs. "In the recent past, there have been cases of women being cheated of their gold ornaments by culprits posing as police officers. The culprits mostly operate in twos and speak in Marathi/Hindi. They usually target ladies wearing gold ornaments," the advisory said.

"They caution their targets that the area where they are is highly crime-prone and that wearing so much jewellery is not proper. With this pretext they 'help' the victim in removing the jewellery and wrap it in some paper. After wrapping it, they give back the packet containing the jewellery," the advisory states.

And when the victim reaches home, the packet contains either fake jewellery or even stones and pebbles in some cases. While nearly two dozen cases have been reported to the police in Goa over the last two years, officers fear that there may be several instances where victims may not have even come forward to register an offence.

It's not just women, but even drunk male tourists travelling in cars registered out of Goa who have fallen prey to such gangs, who extort money or gold from them, after "arresting" them for "drunken driving". The advisory also cautions goldsmiths against buying gold from strangers.

"Goldsmiths who are involved in purchasing old gold should verify the person who approaches them for selling old gold ornaments. A record of such sellers should be maintained," the advisory states.