Chennai: The Railway Police arrested a man who has been committing robberies on trains. The police recovered 110 sovereigns from him and closed the complaints of 30 passengers.
According to a press release from the police, from 2016 to 2019, the railway police have been receiving complaints of theft during night journeys.
On the evening of 7 May, the police questioned a ‘decently dressed’ man at Central station on suspicion. After he gave contradicting replies, he was detained for further questioning. He turned to be a serial train robber.
He was identified as Hamid Khadar (39) of Thrissur, Kerala, with a notorious background. The police said he ran a hotel in Malaysia with two partners and his wife Sahana and two children.
He came to Tamilnadu by flight and carried out robberies in trains at nights. He travelled on trains with reservation.
He sold the stolen jewels in Mumbai and Thrissur. A police team, led by Inspector Thomas Jesudasan, took him to Mumbai and Thrissur and recovered the stolen gold articles.
He knows six languages and is even involved in modelling business. He used to bring models from Algeria, France, Netherlands and Uzbekistan. It is alleged that he ran an fake job consultancy firm promising people jobs in foreign countries.
The Nagpur police arrested him 2012 for a rape case and Palakkad police booked him in a similar case in the past. It is said he began robbing train passengers as he needed money to dislodge a partner from the hotel business. Hamid was produced before the court and remanded in jail.