DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 3 (MExN): The Special Branch, Dimapur have made a major breakthrough, while finally managing to get a vital lead in a fake gold bars trafficking case to which many a gullible people have fallen victim. The modus operandi of the conmen involved in the trade was simple – get a bar of metal (preferably copper) and paint it golden using chemicals. To make the golden bait look authentic, a deep cut would be created slicing across the width of the bar, bearing open the core. Over the finely sawed dent would be sprayed another round of the magical golden paint making it appear that the indentation was deliberately shaped to show the inside was also gold - a notch of purity indeed to the eyes of any prospective buyer.
The accused nabbed on Sunday was caught with a gold-plated/painted metal bar of the description cited above. It weighed around half-a-kilogram, equivalent to around 43 tolas (units) of gold in weight. Now, selling that to an unsuspecting buyer even well below the existing market price still gets the seller hard currency in terms of lakhs.
According to the Special Branch personnel, who wished to remain anonymous, they have been on the trail of the racket for well over a year. Posing as the buyers, they finally managed to get a lead and struck a deal with the conmen. On the morning of February 3, three Special Branch sleuths, all women, waited for the conmen at the inter-state bus stand, Golaghat Road. The conmen, said to be three, had landed in Dimapur early in the morning with the consignment.
However, two managed to give the slip. The one possessing the fake gold bar was nabbed. He was identified as one Md. Hatem Ali (33 years), a native of Sonitpur, Assam.
The leader of the all-women team of sleuths said that the accused could be subdued only after a tough scuffle. Their call for police back-up was not responded on time.
After the arrest of the con-artist, it further emerged that he was part of a well organised ring of fraudsters, who frequently shuttles between Dimapur and Assam selling their fake gold. They would also engage themselves doing odd jobs for the locals, at the same time mark out gullible buyers, whom they would lure.
Their victims were mostly well-off families. The wife of a police officer was also duped of lakhs of rupees under similar circumstances, it was learned. It is suspected that the same gang was involved in all of the cases.
Two of the victims were able to identify the accused as being one among the group of people who had earlier lured them into buying fake bars of gold.
