Vehicle theft gang busted, 2 held in Navi Mumbai

The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch Unit I busted a vehicle theft gang and arrested two individuals involved in tactfully stealing vehicles from Navi Mumbai. The stolen vehicles were subsequently sold to individuals in different states, primarily used in criminal activities such as drug smuggling.

Police identified the arrested accused as Mohammad Faiz Akbar Ali Shaikh, 48, hailing from Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh, and Mohammad Shamim Mohammad Shafi Shaikh, 35 from Sakinaka in Mumbai.

The modus operandi of the accused involved stealing the Engine Control Module (ECM) and Body Control Module (BCM) from vehicles with a history of accidents, marked as scrap.

“ECN and BCM are like the brain and heart of a vehicle. If one has that, no key is required to start the vehicle. The accused used to steal both the devices from scrapped vehicles and then use it on the vehicle they intended to steal and start the ignition,” senior police inspector Abasaheb Patil from unit I of the Crime Branch, said.

The Crime Branch Unit I initiated a parallel investigation after three cars were stolen in January from Rabale police station.

The team identified the accused through CCTV footage and technical analysis.

Assistant police inspector Nilesh Patil said, “Since the accused were history sheeters, they were identified from the footage and we worked on the technical investigation and found the first accused from Meerut.”

After the arrest of the first accused, the location of the second one was revealed.

The accused committed a total of 26 offenses, with 19 cases where they were wanted and had been previously arrested in 17 cases.

Another accomplice from the gang is currently wanted by the authorities. The crimes spanned various locations, including Rabale, Samtanagar, Kasarvadvali, Manpada in Thane, and Ahmednagar district.

Since the accused were history sheeters, they were identified from the footage and we worked on the probe and found the first accused from Meerut

NILESH PATIL, Assistant police inspector