THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two youths were arrested in Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram for pawning fake gold multipe times. The accused Sadik (28) and Yaseen (27) were arrested for pawning fake gold at Surya Finance in Venganoor. The two youths were stopped by the staff of the shop with the help of locals and handed them over to the Vizhinjam police yesterday morning when they arrived to pawn gold-plated bangles.

They had earlier pawned gold-plated bangles at the Karumam, Arakulam, Nemom Poozhikunnu, Peringammala and Balaramapuram branches of the same establishment. The accused claimed that the bangles were worth two sovereigns. At Rs 80,000 per bangle, the accused have obtained around Rs 7 lakh so far. The Vizhinjam police said that both of them started the scam on the 6th of this month.

The incident came to light when the employees of the establishment found that the same amount was received by pledging one bangle under the same name in multiple branches. The same address was also given everywhere. Following this, the employees inspected a bangle brought by them. It was found to be fake. Subsequently, the information about the scam was passed on to all the branches. When the accused came to pledge bangles again, the staff stopped them with the help of locals.The accused were taken into custody under the leadership of SIs Sampath and Vinod of Vizhinjam police station.