‘One gang may be behind 3 thefts’

Police teams from the Borivli, Malad and Thane rural police stations are working jointly to solve three robberies that took place within their respective jurisdictions in the last few months.

Officials from the Mumbai crime branch recently visited the Vasai jewellery shop, from where jewellery worth Rs42 lakh was stolen a few days ago.

They compared the Vasai theft with the HDFC Bank robbery that took place on August 30 in Borivli (five accused had decamped with Rs27 lakh) and the Model Cooperative Bank robbery in Malad (four people had made away with Rs31 lakh) and found that the modus operandi was similar in the three cases.

A senior officer from the crime branch said, “It has been observed that the modus operandi was very similar. While one person pointed the gun at the people in the bank/shop, the others collected cash without wasting any time.”

He added, “We have got CCTV grabs in two cases. The accused involved had masked their faces in both but seemed to belong to the same age group. The time taken to execute the robbery was also similar in all three cases. Hence, we suspect that this could be the work of the same gang.”

It was earlier suspected that the gangs behind the robberies could be from Navi Mumbai or Thane. However, the needle of suspicion now points towards a new gang from the western suburbs.

“Robbery cases had come down in the earlier part of the year,” the official added. “Since June, though, robbers have again become active. A close watch is being kept on people who have a history of involvement in such cases. Informers are being roped in to get more details about suspects so that the accused involved are nabbed soon.”