Sleuths of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police commissionerate have busted a gang of highway robbers who connived with truck-trailer drivers and stole iron rods worth lakhs of rupees.
Acting on a tip-off the crime detection unit of the Valiv police, under the instructions of Senior Police Inspector- Vilas Chougle, laid a trap and apprehended nine members of the gang including truck drivers from the Khairpada area of Vasai (east) on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as-Prashant Singh (35), Umesh Singh (42), Sarvesh Singh alias Sonu (31), Ramu Gautam (22), Sandeep Gonda (25), Moidun Rehman Babar Ali (39), Ramesh Laldhari Rajbhar (35), Pankaj Rama Singh (30) and Kamlesh Verma.
Investigations revealed that the gang with the help of drivers used to offload tonnes of iron rods in the middle of the journey from the truck-trailers which were engaged in transporting the material to various godowns and construction sites in and out of the city.
The police recovered six trailers loaded with iron rods, a tempo and a Wagon-R car- all worth more than Rs. 2.13 crore. A case under sections 407 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the accused. Assistant Police Inspector, Gyanesh Fadtare is conducting further investigations into the case.
