21 held for stealing red sanders worth `1.55 cr at Dronagiri

The Uran police have arrested a total of 21 people in the past three weeks for allegedly stealing a container of red sanders worth Rs 1.55 crore from their jurisdiction.

The main accused in the case is still at large and the police are searching for him.

According to the police, the customs officials seized the container with 390 kilograms of red sanders around three years ago and kept it along with the trailer at Punjab Container and Warehousing Ltd at Dronagiri.

The culprits stole the trailer and the container on the night of February 16 and kept another trailer with same registration number at that place. The warehouse officials learnt about the theft within a short time and registered an FIR with the police.

“We started investigating the case and arrested two culprits within a few days. Taking details from them we arrested another 19 people in last three weeks. All of them have been sent to judicial custody now,” said Abhay Mahajan, police inspector from Uran police station.

“Some workers from the warehouse were also involved in the crime and they have also been arrested. All culprits are residents of Uran, Nerul, CBD Belapur, Panvel and the peripheral areas. We are now trying to find out the main accused in this case,” he added.

Some of the arrested people are Ajit Meherkar, 28, Laxman Shirke, 28, Rajendra Kadu, 41, Hasuram Bhoir, 36, Vishwajit Maninath, 28, Sagar Mhatre, 37, and Bala Jadhav, 48.

The police however, have not been able to recover the stolen red sanders so far.

“We heard those were sold to some other people somewhere out of Mumbai. We have seized jewellery and other valuables from the arrested people which were purchased with the money they got by selling the red sanders,” another senior police officer said.

“The arrested people were actually used by the main culprits to steal the red sander. The actual picture will come to light only after we arrest him,” he added.