Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Five men were arrested by Kanadiya police on Monday for stealing silencers of Maruti Eeco vehicles to get the hugely expensive Platinum Metal Group (PMG) metals found in them. The accused allegedly confessed to stealing the silencers of more than two dozen cars in the city so far.
Kanadiya police station in charge Jagdish Prasad Jamre said that acting on a tip-off, five members of a gang were arrested from near Mitrabandhu Nagar area while they were allegedly preparing to rob a car showroom in the area. A sword, a knife, an iron rod etc were recovered from them. They were taken to the police station where they allegedly confessed to stealing 11 silencers of Maruti Eeco cars from a godown in the area.
The accused were identified as Bilal, a resident of Khajrana, Kallu alias Kalam of Khajrana area, Wahid Shah of Tanzim Nagar, Mohammad Akram of Hina Colony and Sameer Pathan of Hina Colony area of the city. The accused allegedly confessed to stealing 11 silencers from the cars in a godown. Police also recovered the metal which was taken out from the stolen silencers from them.
TI Jamre said that the costly metal is being sold in another state.
Free Press had reported on September 4 that a gang was stealing silencers of a Maruti Eeco car and many such incidents had been reported in the city in the last two months.
One silencer costs Rs 74,000
One silencer of a Maruti Eeco car costs around Rs 74,000. Sources said that the metal dust found in the silencers can be sold for high prices. The catalytic converter in the silencer is made of three PMG metals including platinum, palladium and rhodium. The cost of metal dust is about Rs 2000 to Rs 4000 per 10 grams while the sensors in the silencer could also be sold for over Rs 20,000. Such gangs are active in Gujarat and Maharashtra also.
