Thieves pose as GVMC officials, steal gold from a woman in Vizag

Two unidentified thieves, posing as GVMC officials, entered a residence at VUDA colony, Madhurawada, Vizag, around 11.30 AM on Thursday. Saying they need to inspect the drainage of the home, they took the owner, Ponnada Seetha Mahalakshmi, to the backyard. Observing that the main door of the home was ajar, the house help suspected something odd and asked the two strangers to leave, and come back at a later time.

When the two women went back inside the house, four gold bangles were found missing. It is being speculated that the two distracted the resident while a third person entered the home and stole the gold. A case has been registered at the Airport police station in Vizag and special teams have been constituted to search for the thieves.

Speaking on the incident, V Suresh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Visakhapatnam, has issued advisories to the citizens to be vigilant of any salespersons, people posing as staff of orphanages or homes for the elderly, who distract the owners while their expensive items are looted. The DCP has also cautioned women living alone to be careful as there has been a pattern of thieves targeting such citizens specifically. Advisories were also issued to be vigilant against various thieves posing as staff from the telephone department, electricity or municipality department who enter the residence under the false pretext.

The DCP further said that the citizens must dial ‘100’ when they observe that someone is suspicious in their demeanour.