Hyderabad: The Hyderabad task force busted an inter-state attention diversion gang on Thursday. The cops arrested three members of the gang at Gulzar House while two others are absconding. Gold jewellery worth Rs 25 lakh was also seized from them.

The arrests were made after a tip-off from head constable P. Venkata Swamy. Police said the gangsters are residents of Gadag district in Karnataka and belong to the Irani community.

The prime accused Amjad Akber Ali Baig, 36, is a small trader. He set up a gang with Azgar Ali Baug, Fayyaz Ansari and two others. Police said that Amjad Akber Ali Baig was a notorious thief. He is also involved in chain snatching cases, attention diversion cases and pseudo police cheating cases.

Police said that Amjad commits crimes in Maharashtra and Telangana. He is a wanted criminal in both the states and was arrested by the Bhiwandi police of Maharashtra twice for thefts.

The gang identifies lonely women and robs their jewellery using various techniques. “They tell the victims that a murder had taken place in the surroundings and advise women to keep their jewellery safe and give them a pouch to keep them. Meanwhile, they replace the pouch with a similar one,” said additional CP crimes Swati Lakra.

Amjad and his gang has committed around 13 pseudo police cheating cases, two attention diversion cases and nearly five chain snatching cases in the last two years. Keeping in view of their criminal record the police is planning to invoke the PD Act against them.