A gang of crooks in India who had operated a fake police station for eight months 500 meters from the city police chief’s home have been arrested and arrested on suspicion of extortion, a police official said Thursday (18 August).
At least six members of the gang, including two women, were arrested when a real police officer spotted two uniformed men on Wednesday whose homemade weapons raised his suspicions. “The investigation into this case is ongoing. More information will be announced,” DC police officer Srivastava told AFP.
General Anxiety
According to DC Srivastava, the leader of the gang is on the run, but every effort is being made to find and arrest him. The mock police station had been in operation for eight months. He lived in a guest house about 500 meters from the residence of the chief of the city police in the city of Banka, Bihar state.
The scammers employed men and women from this rural area as police station personnel for around five hundred rupees a day while they, the “officials”, wore uniforms with graduate badges. Many local residents who believe they are dealing with a real police station are likely to have been extorted when they file a complaint or ask for help.
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Incidents of scammers or gangs posing as government agents, including police and military, are common in India. Public fear of law enforcement agencies is so great that people rarely dare to question their identities. On the other hand, it’s a much more extraordinary thing that a police station is created from scratch.
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