The Bangalore police crime branch has nabbed a gang of six vehicle lifters, three of whom were involved in vehicle thefts in Mumbai.
Police try to figure out if they were stealing vehicles for terror organisations
BANGALORE: The Bangalore police crime branch has nabbed a gang of six vehicle lifters, three of whom were involved in vehicle thefts in Mumbai. These arrests hold significance after the explosive-laden cars discovered in Surat following the serial blasts in Ahmedabad were found to be from Mumbai.
Five of the accused were nabbed following the arrest of Lathief, 38, a native of Kerala in July. The accused have been identified as Javid Khan, 24, who belongs to Allahabad, Raju Yadav, 25, a native of Bardasi village in Kamaliyav Tehsil in Uttar Pradesh, Sheik Arif, 22, from Tippunagar in Bangarpet in Kolar district in Karnataka, Abdul Rashid Sheik alias Basha, 42, a native of Munidevaravada, Ankola in Karwar district in Karnataka and Rajan alias Alex Rajan from Kerala. Both Khan and Yadav were residing at Ganapath Patel Nagar, IC Colony, Borivili.
The police have recovered 51 four-wheelers, out of which 13 are from Mumbai.
Besides Mumbai, the seized cars pertain to cases reported in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Ullal in Mangalore and Dharwad in Karnataka.
According to the police, Khan and Yadav came to Mumbai during their childhood. Arif came to Mumbai to visit his sister and got in touch with the duo. The three started lifting cars parked in front of residential buildings and sold them at Hubli, Karwar and Raichur districts in Karnataka. All the accused have cases registered against them in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. The recovered cars were stolen by them in 2007.
Lathief was arrested on July 9 while he was making an attempt to sell a two-wheeler in Bangalore. He was involved in car thefts reported in Kerala and Karwar. In 2003, he was convicted for three years in a car theft case in Kasargod. When he was shifted from Kannur jail in Kerala to Karwar, he managed to escape from police custody and joined hands with Rajan alias Alex Rajan to steal cars from Kerala.
Police nabbed Rajan on July 30. Rajan is involved in over 50 cases of car theft. In all these cases, the court has issued non-bailable warrants against him as he was absconding. He was wanted by both Tamil Nadu and Kerala police.
When asked about any terror angle to the car theft network, DCP (Crime) ND Mulla said that the crime branch was verifying if the cars were sold to anybody who had terror links. “Since the accused have changed the registration numbers, it will take some time to trace the owners of the cars,” he said.
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