Leader of truck looters held, 468 cartons seized
A 30-year-old man, leader of a gang that stole export goods from trucks, was arrested by the police near Jasola village in south Delhi on Friday.
The accused, Manoj Kumar, 30, and his associates had also rented godowns in Surajpur industrial area in Greater Noida and Manesar in Haryana, where the stolen cartons of goods were stocked.
Police have so far recovered 416 cartons containing 1,439 ceiling fans and 52 cartons filled with other electrical equipment. The stolen goods were to be exported to African countries.
Joint commissioner of police (crime) RS Yadav said that on Friday afternoon, police received information that Kumar was meeting his associates at a metro construction site near Jasola village in south-east Delhi.
“Our team laid a trap and arrested him from Jasola,” Yadav said.
On interrogation, Kumar confessed that he ran the gang with two men — namely, Vinod Sharma and Mobin Khan — who were yet to be arrested. The three had roped in truck drivers, most of them employed at Inland Container Depots in Tuglaqabad, Faridabad, Dadri and Greater Noida. The drivers helped the gang to siphon off
THE GANG SIPHONED OFF A PART OF THE EXPORT GOODS BEING CARRIED IN THE TRUCK AND REPLACED THEM WITH SAND BAGS
goods from their trucks.
Kumar, who originally hailed from Lakhi Sarai district in Bihar, said that he had come to Delhi in 2007 in search of work.
He started as a labourer at the ICD, Tughlaqabad, during which he came in touch with some container thieves. He cut his teeth with them before starting his own gang. He roped in drivers and other thieves who received a cut from sale of the booty.
With Kumar’s arrest, police claimed to have solved four cases so far.
“The gang siphoned off a part of the export goods being carried in the trucks, and replaced them with sand bags. The resealed containers were then shipped to respective destinations, which would be reached only in two to three months. The gang, meanwhile, stocked the goods in godowns taken on lease at different areas of Greater Noida and Manesar,” said Yadav.
Sources said Kumar confessed that he had a network of buyers who took the stolen items. Police suspect the gang was involved in theft of goods worth crores.