In yet another case of youths taking to robbery for spinning quick buck, 12 youngsters were apprehended near the Indiramma Housing Colony on the Renigunta road on Tuesday morning on charges of manhandling gold traders and decamping with the jewellery.
Twenty rings, including a diamond one, twenty pairs of ear studs, six chains and gold biscuits weighing 76 gram, all worth Rs. 22 lakh, were recovered from them.
The accused have been identified as Jayaseelan alias Darling (25) from East railway quarters, Sk. Badrushavali (29) from Bugga Street (both from Renigunta), N. Mallinga (22) from Karakambadi; K.Raghu (28), K.Siva (22), V.Kamal (22), S.Chotu (22), Sk. Munna (22), S.Babajan (22), G.Harish (22), K.Sundar (24) and E. Prem Kumar (38), all from Tirupati.
They were involved in many cases of attacking gold merchants and robbing of their property. They used to sell the stolen goods and use the money to maintain lavish lifestyle, police said.
Gathering information that many gold merchants from Tirupati and Renigunta usually travel to Chennai and return with gold ornaments on Thursdays, the youths made a vain bid to rob the traders a few weeks ago.
Trying their luck again on another Thursday, they launched a sudden attack on another batch of gold traders who were travelling by an auto-rickshaw near Nakkala Colony on May 21 and fled with the gold.
The accused used to target the traders returning from Chennai with gold on Thursdays, say police
