Chennai, Jan. 29: From Bangladesh, they tiptoed into India and travelled all the way to Chennai, where they robbed Bengalis. But when they went for the kill in Bengal, they were trapped.

Eleven members of a Bangladeshi gang, which had given Tamil Nadu cops a torrid time for the last five years, were arrested today from Jadavpur with help from Bengal police.

Hawking bedsheets by day and robbing houses after sundown, the gang would target temporarily locked houses, unfastening the grilles of windows and breaking in, which is why they came to be known as the “grille thieves” in police records, Chennai police commissioner Lathika Saran said.

In 2002, the Bangladeshis came to live in a colony in central Chennai that has a sizeable Bengali population.

They would hawk bed sheets and plastic containers during the day, which would also give them an opportunity to identify targets.

When darkness fell, they would strike. Saran said the gang mostly took away gold and cash. Only in two cases, among the 79 that they face, did they steal electronic items.

They would switch on the lights of the houses as they went about their job so that passers-by did not get suspicious of any noise they might have made.

Apart from Chennai, the gang also spread to Madurai, Tiruchirappalli and Vellore. Some members headed to Calcutta. As they set up base in Jadavpur, a member of the group was nabbed when he broke into a house in Thirumullaivayil in suburban Chennai.

Shabu Shah gave Tamil Nadu police the lead about his fellow thieves in Jadavpur, and a special team headed by additional commissioner S.R. Jangid set out for Calcutta a couple of weeks ago.

With the help of their colleagues in Calcutta, the policemen from Chennai scanned Jadavpur and swooped on a house after a tip-off. They surrounded the house, belonging to one of the gang members and frequented by the others, and caught the 11.

The police said Swapan Saha alias Liakat Khan, Jahar Ali Khan, Sahin Khan, Lussar Sheikh, Anwar Purkait, Abu Mannan, Ohidur Mataddar, Mijanur Talukdar alias Samar, Noonehara Bibi, Sagina Talukdar and Karima Bibi alias Fuchka hailed from Madaripur district of Bangladesh.

According to Saran, two of them had valid passports. The police are looking for four other members of the gang.

The fingerprints obtained from several houses across Tamil Nadu that the gang had looted matched those of the 11 arrested today.

Among the 79 cases the thieves are wanted in, 66 are in Chennai alone. The gang has stolen 1,358 gold sovereigns worth Rs 1.15 crore and cash worth about Rs 23 lakh, the police said.

Tamil Nadu police have asked for a transit remand and the grille thieves are expected to be brought to Chennai in the next two days.

This is the second major case in recent months in which Tamil Nadu and Bengal police have cooperated, the first being the arrest and subsequent release of Nepalese Maoist leader Chandra Prakash Gajurel, who served a prison term in Chennai following conviction in a fake passport case.