Thief entered hotels in BMW, broke into parked cars to fund drug habit

The 33yearold son of an affluent businessman who would be driven around in his white BMW as he committed thefts at posh hotels and bars to fund his drug habit has been arrestedWith his BMW and welltodo appearance Irfan Farooq Memon left never drew any suspicion His parttime chauffeurs Anwar centre and Nazir right would drive him to posh hotels and bars where he would break into the cars of patrons and steal laptops music systems and other belongingsHe is thought to be involved in over 70 such cases Always dressed impeccably and driven about by a chauffeur the accused never drew any suspicion until the cops caught up with his two drivers who also got a share of the spoilsSenior police inspector Ramchandra Dhawale of Bandra police station said ldquoThe accused was arrested late on Tuesday night We suspect his involvement in several casesrdquoProdigal sonIrfan Memon 33 a resident of Bandra Talao is the second son of a garments merchant who also owns online lottery businesses in Mumbai and Goa The family had struggled to get rid of his drug habit but finally gave up and stopped giving him money after which he resorted to thieving to keep the cash rolling in said copsldquoHe was even sent to a rehab centre twice but that did not help He is completely addicted to a costly liquid drug After his family stopped giving him money Irfan began to commit theftrdquo said a police officer Irfan did not join the family business nor does he have a job However the weekends mdash when the rest of the city took to partying mdash were when he went to work targeting the rich patrons at fivestar hotels and snazzy clubsIrfan had hired two parttime chauffeurs mdash Anwar Wasim Mohammad Hussain Khan 28 and Mohammad Nazir Hussain Rafiq Khan aka Baba 39 mdash who would drive him to prime partying locations in the city such as Marine Drive Worli Bandra Khar Juhu and OshiwaraldquoIrfan committed the crimes mainly on Saturday and Sunday nights The biggest advantage was that he was being driven about in a BMW and was well dressed so he got easy access to posh hotels and pubs No one ever stopped himrdquo said the officerHe added ldquoIrfan would ask the driver to go to the parking lot and target another vehicle there Before entering pubs and hotels people usually leave their belongings in the cars With the help of a glass cutter he would break into the cars and steal laptops bags phones music systems etcrdquoAfter stealing the items Irfan would sell them and use the money to buy drugs He also gave some money to the two drivers who would also use drugs The crime only came to light when API Mahesh Gurav of Bandra police station got a tipoff about two drug users who had stolen items Gurav found Anwar and Nazir at their Nalasopara residences and brought them in and they led the cops to IrfanGurav said ldquoWe recovered laptops which were stolen from the fivestar hotel in Juhu Sea Princess and from Escape a club in Oshiwara During interrogation the suspects named Irfan Both suspects were handed over to the Santacruz police for further interrogationrdquoThe police are still trying to ascertain how many thefts were carried out by Irfan ldquoThe accused committed crime in his own white BMW car We arrested him after a tipoff We are investigating how many similar incidents he was involved inrdquo said DCP zone IX Satyanarayan Chaudhary