At least eight cases have surfaced

The man, identified as Salim, and his son, were arrested from a house. At least eight people have said they hypnotized them and robbed them. But the police believe there are dozens of cases.

The 61-year-old said he came with his son and daughter-in-law to Karachi from Iran recently because his daughter-in-law needed medical treatment. The daughter-in-law has reportedly fled back to Iran with a lion's share of the stolen money. The police recovered just Rs150,000 from their possession. The police believe they also operated in other countries, like Malaysia.

One of their victims, a shopkeeper, said he felt like he wasn't able to move or say anything while they robbed him. The family robbed mobile phone stores, shoe stores and banks. They reportedly hypnotized a cashier into giving them Rs97,000 from a bank and a salesman at Adidas into giving them merchandise too. The salesman lost his job and the cashier had to pay back the money out of his own pocket.

Footage of their crimes has also surfaced. In most of the videos, their victims stare at them dumbstruck as their pocket cash.

A case has been registered against them at the Ferozeabad police station but eight more will be registered at different police stations across the city by their victims. These include Quaidabad, Ferozabad and Paposh Nagar.

The first case was registered under Section 380 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Section 380, which relates to theft, is punishable by a jail term that may extend to seven years.

SAMAA TV also obtained a video of Salim demonstrating the sleight of hand he used to steal some money. However, after demonstrating his trick, Salim denied his involvement in the robberies.

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