June 7: A new strategy called `scientific policing' has been devised by Mumbai police to place a check on robberies and dacoities at jewellery shops and markets of diamond merchants, joint commissioner of police (law and order) P S Pasricha claimed today.``We've identified nearly 400 crime-prone pockets in the city. 235 wireless mobiles have begun patrolling the marked stretches, and carbine-wielding commandos are keeping vigil at strategic spots,'' Pasricha said. Continued incidents of robberies at jewellery shops, even after Home Minister Gopinath Munde's meeting with members of the jewellers' association and his subsequent directives to the police to crack down on gangs targetting jewellers, has impelled this move.``Jewellers, diamond merchants and the entire trading community will now be protected through scientific policing,'' Pasricha said. Over 900 policemen, posing as bystanders and commoners, are now keeping vigil around Zaveri Bazaar and Panch Ratna, he informed. At times, the cops aredisguised as fruit vendors, waiting cab drivers and hawkers.The poor rate of detection has also influenced the introduction of the fresh strategy. Of the 237 cases of robberies and dacoities reported this year, only 86 have been detected so far, and of 16 cases of robberies at shops of jewellers and diamond merchants, only four have been detected. Two more cases were detected last week after the police top brass took preventive measures.In one case, a police patrol team foiled a robbery at Shaikh Memon street when five robbers, after robbing jewellery worth Rs 34 lakh, were about to escape. An alarm was raised, and the police party swooped down on the robbers and arrested two of them. The looted ornaments were also recovered. Deputy commissioner of police, zone-III, Sunil Paraskar said, ``The measures have already begun yielding results. Not only have we detected two cases in two days, but also recovered the entire stolen property.''The robbery at Shah and Nahar industrial estate on May 18, wherefour robbers had decamped with 9 kgs of gold worth Rs 40 lakh, was solved on Saturday. On the basis of clues, police went to Chiplun, Aurangabad, Sangamner and other places and arrested the entire gang.Individual police stations too are carrying out intensive combing operations and surprise search raids in suspicious localities. One such search resulted in the detection of a jewellery heist. Last month, a jewellery shop at Kemps Corner was looted of ornaments worth Rs 5 lakh. Two police constables from Worli police station stumbled upon the looted property while combing the Anand Nagar hutments behind Worli's passport office.During their search, the constables came across a suspicious-looking woman, Nillamma, and a search of her house revealed the hidden booty. Nillamma, who used to keep the jewellery with her until the heat was off the case, was arrested, and a police party has left for Selam where the gang's leader is suspected to be staying.
