The four Iranian nationals, who were wanted for chain snatchings in Hyderabad, were arrested after a two-hour drama during which cops were forced to draw their weapons.Four suspected chain snatchers from Thane, who were wanted for a string of thefts in Hyderabad, tried to prevent a police team from arresting them recently by using their wives as human shields.The men, however, were handcuffed and taken away from Ambivali locality after a two-hour drama, during which one woman tried to set herself ablaze and cops were forced to draw their weapons.The suspects are Iranian nationals who settled in Thane several years ago, said an officer of the joint team of Hyderabad and Thane police. Apart from Hyderabad, they are believed to be behind many chainsnatchings in Mumbai.Three of them have been identified as Khadim Husain Kazim Husain (25), Akram Banne Jafari (42) and Mashalla Garibshah Sayyad (26).The four men came on the radar of the Hyderabad police after they allegedly targeted at least nine women in the Andhra capital in a single day last month and fled that state.They later returned to Ambivali, but CCTV footage of some of their chain-snatchings put Hyderabad cops on their trail. Authorities there ordered a nation-wide hunt, and last week a team of 10 police officers arrived in Mumbai to look for them.With the help of the Thane police, they tracked down the suspects to Ambivali. However, when a joint police team went to the small locality, the men held their Indian wives in front of them and threatened to harm the women if cops tried to arrest them, the officer said.The women also pushed the police officers in a desperate bid to save their husbands. One of them poured kerosene on herself and tried to light amatch, but was prevented by cops.A crowd gathered at the spot as the drama unfolded, and some locals tried to help the suspects flee. The joint police team, however, wrestled the alleged chain snatchers to the ground and some officers drew their weapons as a preventative measure, the unnamed cop said. The suspects were then bundled into a police vehicle and taken away. The Hyderabad police have been granted their custody, but the value of the jewellery the men stole is not known.Additional Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe of the Thane Crime Branch said that four other people were also arrested from Ambivali.“The eight men were wanted in cases of chain snatchings and cheating. Some of them even duped people by posing as cops,” he said.The four men wanted in Hyderabad are from Iran, but they have been living in India for many years, Bharambe said.