Cops nab dreaded highway robber near Sarkhej

While doing vehicle check near Sarkhej, officials of Zone-1 squad nabbed a dreaded highway robber, who was declared wanted in five recent murder cases along with loot, housebreak-ins and highway robberies.

According to the officials, the robber identified as Akbar Mamad Sandhi aka Akbar Dafer (35), a resident of Vasava village near Viramgam, was caught near Sarkhej on Thursday night. The arrest took place while he was going on his bike with a knife and 12 country-made guns.

During the investigation, cops learned that Sandhi and his gang were involved in numerous highway robberies. According to Virendrasinh Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Zone-1, Sandhi was involved in 19 armed robberies and 13 thefts in the last two years.

“Sandhi doesn’t even remember the exact count of his crimes. His gang used to target truck drivers on roads and highways. One of the gang members used to dress as a woman to lure the truck drivers to make them stop the vehicles. They would then rob the drivers of cash,” said Yadav.

Investigation also revealed that all the highway robberies committed by Sandhi were done on different roads of Mehsana, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surendranagar.

Sandhi and his gang of six to nine members would attack the truck drivers with wooden logs and knives. “After severely injuring the driver, they used to throw him on the road.

They knew that truck drivers carry Rs10,000 to Rs30,000 during their journey. Besides cash, the gang would not take anything else,” said Yadav.

In one such incident of robbery on Kalol highway a few months ago, Sandhi killed a truck driver, who tried to fight back and snatched Rs44,000 from him.

 “They don’t even hesitate to attack the police. We have also learned that a cop of Sarkhej police was hacked to death by Sandhi and his gang around 10 years ago,” said Yadav, who is now searching for other gang members.