Masked habitual thief Mr. Imnawapang Jamir

The Mokokchung Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) would like to convey our appreciation to the district administration and police for keeping utmost vigil in Mokokchung round the clock ensuring safety and security of its citizens. Likewise, we appreciate the district police personnel for their prompt action in arresting the dreaded masked habitual thief, one Mr. Imnawapang Jamir, on December 9, 2020 from Mokokchung town Daily Market area at around 5:00 PM after specific information provided by MCCI.

On the arrest of the said masked habitual thief, we would like to assert that his criminal deeds have been a cause of great concern for the business community of Mokokchung and that several traders have been victimized by the culprit since last month, rendering huge financial losses to the victims and causing much insecurity, mental trauma and distress. Further, the arrested thief being a habitual offender, there is no guarantee that the culprit will not commit his serial crimes again if he is let out in the open without serving his term, wherein the traders in particular and the public in general will fall prey to his criminal acts again.

As such, we demand the authorities the following:

1.           That, the culprit should not be granted bail under any circumstances and that he should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. The very act of letting go of the culprit by releasing him on bail shall be considered as amounting to aiding and abetting a habitual offender to commit serial crimes against innocent citizens. We reiterate that the culprit should not be released on bail or we will consider it as perversion of justice, distortion of legal jurisprudence and normalization of crime, in which case we shall be compelled to make our stand in ways we deem fit.

2.           That, the innocent victims of his crimes be compensated immediately.

For the information of all concerned, the culprit has since November 3, 2020 stolen a range of commodities worth about Rs.2,00,000/- from at least 7 shops on different days. Taking advantage of the conditions offered by the festive season and the pandemic SOPs, the culprit employed an unassumingly subtle yet highly proficient modus operandi to prey on his victims. He would appear at his targeted store with a visible shopping list, always well-presented, and place his orders like any regular festive shopper would. He always had his face-mask and hoodies on while maintaining sufficient physical distance from people around him and politely interacted with the salesmen in the most courteous manner, effectively deceiving them without revealing his identity but at the same time winning their confidence. He would then ask the cashier to prepare the bill to make his payment while convincing the unsuspecting salesmen to load his supplies to his vehicle, which was often a hired taxi parked strategically at a safe distance. Then, on the pretext of drawing cash from a nearby ATM, he would leave the shop and calmly drive away without making any scene, all along keeping his taxi driver unawares. He also employed craftily improvised variants of his modus operandi and got away.

When reports of these thefts were brought to the notice of MCCI, a deliberate and equally conniving scheme was laid to ensnare the culprit to which he walked straight into on December 9 evening. MCCI gave the police specific information about the ensnared thief and was promptly arrested, who is now under police custody at Police Station-1, Mokokchung.

Caption: Photo of the culprit under police custody at PS-1 Mokokchung.