Times of India
30 January 2018
Thiruvananthapuram: State police chief Loknath Behera
has urged people not to spread false stories about black stickers pasted on
windows of houses across the state.
In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, Behera said
that some misconceived information campaigns were going on in social media that
these black stickers were pasted by gangs of child traffickers. A year ago,
similar stories spread in the northern part of the state, especially in
Malappuram district, but, probes revealed that those stories were false, he
said. […]
The Hindu
31 January 2018
The police have stepped up surveillance and patrolling
in the district in view of reports that ‘black stickers’ were found pasted on
houses, spreading apprehension among the people of marking houses for criminal
activities. The police are investigating a case in which four black stickers
were found on a window of a house at Ambalamukku on Monday. Fuelled by social
media messages that it had similarities with the modus operandi adopted by
child-lifting gangs, the incident spread panic among local residents.
It was also suspected that a group of gypsies who
purportedly were found roaming in the area a week ago could be involved in the
incident. However, dismissing such claims, Peroorkada Inspector K. Stuart Keeler
said the group had been picked up at the insistence of certain residents and
let off after questioning. No case had been charged in connection with the
particular incident, he said. […]
Deccan Herald
31 January 2018
Amid a scare over "mysterious" black
stickers found pasted on glass windows in houses in some parts of Kerala, Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has allayed fears that they were being pasted by
gangs of child lifters and thieves as a way of marking targets. […]
Some of the glass manufacturers said it was standard
procedure for them to paste similar stickers to avoid breakage when glass
sheets are stacked up in batches. […]
The Hindu
31 January 2018
[…] Inspector General of Police, Manoj Abraham, who
heads the Kerala Police Cyberdome, said field investigations had revealed that 80%
of the stickers were old ones stuck on glass panes, often to buffer them during
transport or mark them out during installation. Building workers rarely removed
them.
But at least 20% was the work of pranksters. The
police suspect that some in the home security systems business were bankrolling
the hoax.
The scare also appeared to be the backwash of recent
high-profile robberies by other State gangs in North Kerala. A favourite Tamil
film about roving gangs targeting houses acted as a catalyst for the panic. […]
The News Minute
31 January 2018
Over the past few days, mysterious black stickers have
cropped up on windows and walls of houses in the southern districts of Kerala,
sparking panic among residents. […]
New Indian Express
1 February 2018
[…] Speaking to T’Puram Express, Manoj Abraham,
Thiruvananthapuram range IG, said there is no mystery behind the stickers.
“Criminals and child-lifters won’t give warnings before carrying out an
operation.
They marked a house if it was found unoccupied. If a
light is on in a house during the daytime,
some robbers mark the house as a target. But this case is totally
different. Normally, glass manufacturers do paste stickers on the glass of the
window pane to avoid friction between glasses while transporting it. So there
is no room for any such panic,” Abraham said.
The IG has also not ruled out the involvement of CCTV
camera manufacturers. Once the panic is triggered residents might begin
installing CCTVs. “Yes, we can’t rule
out that possibility. The CCTV manufacturers could be the ‘scaremongers’.
However, a detailed probe is on and the culprits will be booked soon,” Abraham
added.
Meanwhile, James Wadakkanchery, criminologist,
suspects this could be the handiwork of migrant labourers. He added one can’t
take the issue lightly if the number of complaints received at the police
stations in the different districts in the state is taken into consideration.
“Migrant labourers identify the houses by marking them
with unique patterns. But we can’t conclude they are behind this. Some
miscreants could also be behind this. As many as 30 complaints have been
received by the police in various parts of the state. However, the Chief
Minister and police have issued alerts and declared there is no room for
apprehension,” James said. He also ruled out the involvement of child-lifters,
robbers, and the glass window manufacturers.
Times of India
3 February 2018
[…] The first cases were from Parassala and
Kallambalam police stations. "This phenomena quickly spread because of the
widespread publicity given to these incidents on Facebook and WhatsApp. Since
it was found all over Kerala, the incident could be the result of several
anti-social elements or mischievous children who could have affixed such
stickers," said a top officer.
Police said that the stickers found affixed were not
similar. While at some places it was a piece of black rubber sheet, it was
black paper pieces elsewhere.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the propaganda on
social media that groups of street beggars are out to abduct children is
baseless. "Police have been instructed to allay public fears by
strengthening patrolling and Janamaithri policing," he said.
New Indian Express
4 February 2018
[…] Meanwhile, the Forensic Department has examined
the black stickers affixed on the window panes and found many of them were
similar to the ones found in glass shops. As many as 152 cases of affixing
stickers have been reported in the Thiruvananthapuram Rural district alone. […]
Times of India
6 February 2018
Thiruvananthapuram: The popular theory behind the
black stickers that keep appearing on windows of households these days is that
it is the handiwork of begging mafia, who are out scouting for children to be
kidnapped. But, it appears that the so-called mafia are targeting their own
people now as such stickers have now appeared on the window panes of
'Sakshatkaram', the home of destitute under social welfare department at
Ayiranimuttom in the city.
According to P R Jayakumari, charge officer,
Sakshatkaram, the stickers were noticed by the security guard of the centre.
"He decided to check the windows out of curiosity
as similar stickers were found on several houses in his neighbourhood at
Vilavoorkal," Jayakumari said. There were stickers found extensively on
all windowpanes, around 20 to 30, on the first floor of the building and a handful
of widows on the ground floor too. There were no sun shades on the first floor
of the building and hence it was suspected that whoever did this, used some
sort of equipment to shoot the stickers from a distance, the charge officer
said. […]
New Indian Express
13 February 2018
KOCHI: AKESSIA (All Kinds of Electronic Security &
System Integrators Association) - a body of electronic, CCTV and security
product manufacturers, distributors and technicians - has come out against the
whispering campaign in the ‘black stickers’ episode which said it is a ploy by
CCTV camera manufacturers to generate business by creating panic among the
public. […]
Business Standard [India]
23 February 2018
Black stickers pasted on some homes at a few villages
in the district, led to panic, following a social media scare that it was by a
north Indian gang which wanted to kidnap inmates and children, after which four
of them were held on suspicion by locals and handed over to police.
While three were detained by villagers at Mannakudi
after they were found moving around suspiciously, the fourth, a woman, was
beaten up by locals at another village after she gave contradictory replies and
tried to escape, police said.
The ambulance carrying her to hospital was also
detained for some time by the villagers, who demanded that the culprits be
nabbed and action against them. […]