ISLAMABAD: Six women were arrested, along with their male accomplice, for allegedly conducting thefts while disguising themselves as housemaids, the police said on Monday.

The arrests were made by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the capital police, which also recovered valuables including gold ornaments and cash from them, the police said.

Police sources said that the last couple of months had seen many complaints of house thefts in which the victims were accusing their servants and that the SIU was then asked to investigate into the matter.

It was suspected that the same gang was involved in the majority of house theft cases.

After collecting details regarding the suspects from the victims, the SIU team managed to arrest six women and their male accomplice, Iwho were all part of the same gang, police sources said, adding that the suspects were natives of Faisalabad, Lahore, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura.

The team recovered valuables from the suspects as well including a gold neclclace and earrings.

The suspects have confessed tolootingvarioushousesin the jurisdiction of the Sabzi Mandi, Golra and Karachi Company police stations, the police sources said.

The police said that two of the arrested women looted a house in I-10/2 on May 21 after getting employment there and that a house in F-11/3 was also looted by the gang as well as houses in E-11/2, G-8/2 and G-9/2.

The police said they are trying to recover the items the gang stole from various houses and details of who bought the stolen items from them were collected from the arrested members of the gang.

The capital police regularly advise residents of the federal capital to inform them before employing house help and ask them to verify their servant`s CNIC and status verified from the police.

The request was made after a number of arrests were made where the suspects would seek employment as house help and later loot their employers, the police said, and that most citizens do not adhere to the police`s advice when employing help.

Separately, according to the capital police, 1,641 criminals involved in murder, car theft, burglary and robbery were arrested this year and that looted items worth Rs362.8 million were also recovered.

Some 488 members of 184 gangs were attested as well as 3,507 absconders.

During the current year, 157 persons were arrested for involvement in murder, 57 were arrested for involvement in 23 cases of blind murders and 513 robbers were arrested for their involvement in 285 cases which led to the recovery of valuables worth Rs55.3 million.

During the current year, 196 car thieves were also arrested and 115 cars and 68 motorbikes recovered from them while 90 tempered with cars were also recovered.