Jaipur: Laden with heavy debts, a 35-year-old man turns to Chain-snatching in the city. This was revealed by the accused, who along with his brother was arrested by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday. Twenty-six chains and a country-made pistol were recovered from their possession.

Addressing a press conference, Ashok Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (West), said that the police was seriously looking at the increased menace of the gold chain snatchers.

“We constituted a team and studied the CCTV footages of various public places in the areas where Chain Snatching incidents were witnessed. Our team grabbed the footage of a month and analysed it. Thereafter, our men in plain cloth were deployed in the areas where such incidents were witnessed in the past,” said Gupta.

Police added that one of the accused was caught earlier by the Rajasthan ATS with an illegal possession of Rs 19 lakh during demonetization last year.

“The arrested accused included two real brothers identified as Om Prakash Kumawat(35) and Harishankar Kumawat(32). During the arrest we have also seized a country made pistol from their possession and also 26 gold chains they had snatched from the neck of various women,” said Gupta.

Asked on the how the two brothers took up chain snatching, Gupta said, “Last year when Om Prakash Kumawat was caught by the ATS with illegal possession of old currency after demonetization he was in heavy debts. That’s why he started chain snatching along with his brother.”