Senior police officer says that so far 12 gangs have been identified and engaged in committing crimes on highways and the 165-kilometre-long Yamuna Expressway connecting Noida to Agra
Criminals are having a field day on highways and expressways connecting Delhi and NCR Western Uttar Pradesh, but the police have failed to tighten the noose on them.
In the past few months, several incidents of loot, rape have been reported from UP's highways and expressways. The police do not have any action plan to control the menace.
On explaining the details, a senior police officer said that so far 12 gangs have been identified and engaged in committing crimes on highways and 165-kilometre-long Yamuna Expressway connecting Noida to Agra. Major gangs here include the Axle gang and the Lifafa gang are among the most active in these regions.
The police said since 2015, apart from Uttar Pradesh, gangs from Haryana and Delhi are also active in the region.
Explaining the modus operandi, a senior police officer said that 'Axle gang' lay axle on the highways and the e-way. As the driver stopped the car after hitting the axle, the gang would rush to rob the passengers. In contrast, the officer said, the Lifafa gang used to target those passengers, whose vehicles had broken down. Both gangs have committed many crimes in Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Mathura districts in Western UP
Apart from the Axle and Lifafa, there are other notorious gangs that have been identified in the region. UP police officials said that they have identified 100 criminals of different gangs, active on the Yamuna expressway for robbing commuters. Some of these gangs have been identified as Chappal, Hariya, Autolifter and Jeharkhurani gangs. All of these gangs have different modus operandi, but the most notorious is Jeharkhurani gang who offer drinks laced with sedatives to passengers waiting for buses on the e-way or to those whose vehicles break down. They would then rob them.
Not surprisingly criminal incidents on the Yamuna Expressway are all too common. A group of criminals recently attacked commuters on the Expressway, and when the commuters did not stop their vehicles, the criminals pelted stones and attacked the car with iron rods
In another incident, three persons were injured when armed men looted cash and valuables worth five lakh rupees from a luxury bus on Yamuna expressway near Aligarh. The culprits got inside the Delhi-Lucknow bus near Tappal in Aligarh when one of its tyres got punctured. Before looting the bus, the culprits barged inside an under-construction farmhouse of a retired police officer where they beat up the staff and construction workers including two women present there.
It's not just hardneded criminals but juveniles too who are involved in the racket. The Greater Noida police recently arrested two youths, including a Class X student, for looting Rs 10 lakh of jewellery from a family travelling from Kanpur to Delhi via the Yamuna Expressway in the wee hours of December 26, 2016.
Commenting on such incidents, the authorities say that they are doing all they can. "A team has been formed to keep an eye on such gangs and manhunt is on to nab such criminals," a senior UP police officer said, pleading anonymity.
SHOCKING INCIDENTS
- April12, 2017: Unidentified armed assailants attempted to rob commuters on Yamuna Expressway between Mathura and Jewar toll plaza. When the criminals failed to stop vehicles they pelted stones and opened fire. No casualty reported but six persons got injured in the incident.
- January 22, 2017: Three persons were injured when armed men looted cash and valuables worth five lakh rupees from a luxury bus on Yamuna Expressway, near Aligarh. Before looting the bus the culprits had barged inside an under-construction farm house of a retired police officer, where they beat up the staff including two women.
- December 25, 2016: Armed robbers stopped a sedan by throwing an iron rod at it on the Yamuna Expressway to loot its passengers. The modus operandi had a chilling similarity with the one employed by the a gang that waylaid a car on NH-91 in Bulandhshar, earlier, this year and raped a woman and her daughter.
- December 27, 2014: Family of an Air Force officer was allegedly looted by some armed men on Yamuna Expressway when they were on their way to Agra from Delhi.
- December 3, 2013: An SUV loaded with eight people was ambushed by a gang of highway robbers off the Yamuna Expressway on its service road. Eight employees of a leading automobile manufacturing company were allegedly robbed of cash and other valuables in Rabupura area of Greater Noida.
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