One of the drones procured by Tamil Nadu police that helped arrest ATM thieves
Drones procured by Tamil Nadu police for surveillance helped arrest a gang suspected of ATM thefts. Two men of a gang of five from Haryana, suspected to have stolen around Rs 30 lakh from ATM machines in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore, were arrested by the police using two drones. The five men were spotted travelling in a Haryana-registered car early morning on Thursday and told to stop. But they fled.
The police said after a chase, the men got out of the car and headed into a field near the highway, hoping to take advantage of the darkness.
But the police summoned additional personnel from neighbouring areas and surrounded the area, determined not to let the men escape. But senior district officers did not want their men to risk their lives. Last week, a police inspector from Chennai investigating a gold heist,
was shot during an operation in Rajasthan by the suspected robber.
A team of police was deployed around the area to ensure the suspects don't escape in the dark. A few hours later, they could nab only two of them hiding on a terrace. Though sniffer dogs located their path, fearing a shootout, the police avoided any operation that could result in a repeat of the Rajasthan incident.
A policeman operates a surveillance drone to look for ATM thieves hiding at a village in Tamil Nadu.
This time, the police decided to deploy two drones that helped them monitor the area remotely. The villagers were briefed and soon the police began a door-to-door search. One of the villagers alerted police that something was amiss at his property. A team was rushed to the spot and two of the suspects were found hiding under a water tank.
The fifth suspect was arrested before the drone operation started.
"The drone camera could not spot them as they were under a tank, but it (drone surveillance) helped to confine them to their hide out," the Superintendent of Police, Ara Arularasu told NDTV.
The men had allegedly burgled around Rs 30 lakh from an ATM in Coimbatore last week. The police, however, managed to recover only Rs 2 lakh. All five of the accused were handed over to the Coimbatore police.