Thane: Four persons held for stealing motorbikes; 11 vehicles seized

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Police have arrested four persons and claimed to have busted a gang involved in stealing motorbikes in Bhiwandi area of Maharashtra's Thane district, reported news agency PTI.

Eleven stolen motorbikes have also been seized from the possession of the accused, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II), Bhiwandi, Navnath Dhavle told reporters on Tuesday evening, reported PTI.

He said there were a number of cases of motorbike theft in Bhiwandi.

The police worked on several leads including CCTV footage, as well as intelligence and technical inputs, the official said.

Over the last couple of days, the police arrested four persons, he said.

The police first caught Mustakin @ Asif Mohammad Amin Ansari (25), belonging to Bhiwandi, and got information about the other accused, the official said.

The three other accused have been identified as Atik @ Altaf Munaf Shaikh (23), from Jalgaon, Javed @ Jahid Jabir Sheikh (39), from Padgha in Thane, and Hasnain Jaffar Hussain Sayyed (21), from Mumbra in Thane, he said.

The police seized 11 stolen motorbikes valued at Rs 3.35 lakh from their possession, the official said.

Meanwhile, the police in Maharashtra's Thane city have arrested three Nepalese men in connection with a theft at jewellery shop during which gold worth Rs 3.2 crore was stolen, police told PTI on Tuesday.

The crime branch officials arrested Madhav Giri, Dinesh alias Sagar Rawal, and Deepak Bhandari, all hailing from Nepal, on August 20, an official told PTI.

The police managed to recover 550 gm of the stolen gold, valued at Rs 33 lakh from the trio, he said.

A gang of miscreants allegedly broke into a jewellery shop in the main market area of Ulhasnagar town on June 27 and decamped with 6 kg of gold jewellery worth Rs 3.2 crore, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shivraj Patil told PTI.

During the probe, the police relied on the CCTV footage from the area and technical analysis, which revealed that the accused were from Nepal, he said.

Police teams launched a manhunt in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow, Varanasi and also searched in the districts bordering Nepal and finally apprehended the trio in one of the border areas, the official told PTI.

While three members of the gang have been arrested, seven more are suspected to be involved in the crime, he said.

The accused are history-sheeters and were involved in a similar robbery at a jewellery store in Kamote area of Navi Mumbai in October 2022, the official told PTI.

The gang, which included the security guard of the shop, first surveyed the location and struck when the establishment was closed, he said.

The accused were also wanted for robberies in neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, senior inspector Anand Raorane said, adding that the local property cell officials are carrying out further probe.

(With inputs from PTI)