3 more held in car theft case

The Mumbai Crime Branch sleuths on Tuesday arrested three more persons who were instrumental in altering parts of a stolen vehicle from Mumbai, which was used to ferry cache of arms by a criminal gang. The said gang had looted an arms godown in UP and had ferried the arms in the said vehicle which was intercepted by the Nashik police this month.

The accused have been identified as Mehtab Khan (50), Mohamed Abdul Shaikh(49) and Shehzad Ali Shaikh (23) all residents of Sewree area.

The police had on Tuesday also arrested a thief Sanjay Salukhe, 22, a resident of Chembur for allegedly stealing a Bolero jeep which was parked opposite Lashkariya Building in Andheri (w) on December 05. The case was being probed by Amboli police station, after there was a delay in registering the case.

According to the police, the accused would run a garage and after stealing the vehicle the Salunkhe had taken the car to the accuse's garage to alter the parts of the jeep after which it was used in ferrying in the arms.

"After the arrest of Salunkhe, names of the three accused cropped up and we traced arrested them from Sewree area," said a crime branch officer.