Hindustan Times (Delhi)

₹1.36cr Yamuna eway robbery cracked, 7 held

SILVER HAUL Cops recover 518 kilos of consignmen­t from Jewar when robbers were returning after failed bid to sell jewellery in Delhi, search for other members

- HT Correspond­ent htreporter­s@hindustant­imes.com

GREATER NOIDA: Police have arrested seven people for the sensationa­l robbery of silver jewellery worth around ₹1.36 crore on the Yamuna Expressway on April 3 and recovered around 518 kg of the looted consignmen­t.

The accused had hijacked the truck with 28 boxes carrying 618 kg silver jewellery being ferried to the Indira Gandhi Internatio­nal Airport from Agra.

Three men — Rahul, Aditya and Vineet — were arrested on Monday and the others on Wednesday. “They had provided fake SIM cards to the robbers. Rahul was a cousin of one of the other accused,” additional director general of police (Meerut) Prashant Kumar said.

Kumar said that four others — Hashim, Abdullah, Aswini and Shoaib — were arrested on Wednesday and 518 kg silver was recovered along with a car and a police uniform.

“The Innova used to commit the crime was recovered from these men. They were arrested around 1pm on Wednesday near an eatery in Jewar on the expressway. We are investigat­ing if the accused had previous criminal records,” Kumar said.

According to police officials, the accused were leaving the city in the same car but with a different licence plate. They were trying to sell the stolen jewellery elsewhere as they could not find any buyers in Delhi.

Superinten­dent of police (rural) Suniti said, “There were seven men in two cars — an Innova and a Fortuner. They were very careful in avoiding the toll plaza so that their photos do not get captured in the CCTV camera.”

The Innova was being driven by Aswini while Hashim wore the police uniform, said Suniti. “The

An eyewitness at Khizrabad alerts the truck owner whose number is mentioned behind the vehicle

The owner reaches the spot and calls Delhi police which redirects them to Jewar police. An FIR in the case is filed next day

truck was hijacked and was abandoned at Khizrabad in Delhi where they transferre­d the goods into their car and fled,” the SP said.

The owner of the truck, Kuldeep Dhingra, was alerted by a witness in Khizrabad. Dhingra called the police after reaching the spot.

The police are investigat­ing the role of the truck driver, Amit, Three men arrested by police for selling fake SIM cards to robbers. After their interrogat­ion, four more men nabbed from Jewar and 518kg of silver recovered. Police say the men wanted to sell the jewellery in Rajasthan

who is absconding.

According to the owner of the truck, the driver had been working with them for a long time. “Amit has been working with us for the past 5-6 years. We have never had any complaints before,” said Dhingra.

The consignmen­t belonged to nine jewellers — seven from Agra and two from Mathura — said police. The truck carrying 618 kg of silver jewellery leaves Agra to take the consignmen­t to IGI airport, Delhi, from where it was to be flown to Chennai

The truck is stopped by four men, who pose as sales tax officers, 13km from the toll plaza. The men force the gunmen and driver into an Innova car and then drive off with the truck

The truck reaches Khizrabad village, Delhi, where the goods are transferre­d to a waiting car

“We are relieved that most of the material has already been found,” Rajeev Jain, who owned 190kg of the consignmen­t, said.

The police are on the lookout for the other members of the gang. “The mastermind, who had hired these men to carry out the heist, is on the run. We know about the involvemen­t of at least three other people,” said Suniti.

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