Bhubaneswar, June 28: Snatching cases appear to be on the rise in the city.

Two motorcycle-borne youths today snatched away the gold necklace of a woman at Big Bazar, little away from Kharavela Nagar police station. The woman was taking a morning walk with her husband. Sources said the goons had snatched the chain at dagger point. Police, however, said no complaint had yet been lodged.

“We were informed by the control room that a snatching case took place in front of Big Bazar around 5.45am. When our patrolling team rushed to the spot, they found there nothing,” said a police officer, adding that though they had not received any complaint, they began probe.

The incident comes at a time when police claim to have intensified the patrolling during the morning hours in the city. Sources said the decision to intensify patrolling between 5am and 8am was taken as morning walkers had been facing threats from the snatchers.

While a number of snatching cases had been registered in different police stations in the capital in the last few months, police had recently detained some small-time goldsmiths suspecting their involvement in the disposal of the stolen ornaments. “We are trying to take them into confidence to nab the snatchers,” said a senior police officer. Last month, a goldsmith was arrested from the Laxmi Sagar area for buying stolen chains from a snatcher gang.

Police are going to sensitise local youths to keep a vigil in their area to help police nab the goons involved in crimes such as, snatching, burglary and loot. “This will be first done in the Nageswartangi area which has witnessed several snatching cases in the past six months with the goons looting women at dagger point,” said the officer.

On June 21, a group of women from that area had met the police commissioner and submitted a memorandum listing 30 such cases in the past six months. Following this the police commissioner had called a meeting of all the inspectors in-charge in the capital city to take steps to curb such crimes.

Deputy commissioner of police Nitinjit Singh said police had seriously taken the snatching cases and was taking preventive measures. “More than 10 such cases have been detected in the last two months,” said the DCP, adding that speedy detection was the key to prevent crimes.

In another development, a criminal, who had been involved in several crimes in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, was arrested last night. The accused, identified as Prabhat Mahakud alias Denga, was caught by a special team of city police.