Cops arrest three accused, including mastermind, who reveals they enlisted help from a professional gang in Jharkhand to steal gold worth Rs 9 crore from the gold-loaning branch
The thieves used gas cutters to make a hole in the vault where the gold was kept
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The Thane police have tracked and arrested three accused, including the mastermind of the 35-kg gold heist in Ulhasnagar’s Mannapuram Gold Loan branch. However, the police managed to recover only 3 kg of gold worth Rs 77 lakh as a chunk of the stolen gold — worth Rs 9 crore in total — is still lying with absconding accused.
The three arrested have been identified as mastermind Kamaruddhin Asuddhin Shaikh (28), a resident of Navi Mumbai, Mustuaffa alias Akthar Shaikh (44), a resident of Jharkhand and Manoj Saud (35), a resident of Diva. The main accused Thapa brothers Mansingh and Deepak are still wanted in the case and may have fled to Nepal with the major amount of gold jewellery.
Two gangs involved
The arrested mastermind told cops that the heist was a handiwork of two gangs; one from Jharkhand and another from Nepal and a total 20 people were involved in the heist.
Ulhasnagar gold heist: Modus operandi of theft points to Jharkhand gang
On the night of December 25, unknown thieves had fled with the booty from a branch of the gold loaning company located in Sai Krupa Palace housing society in Ulhasnagar. They first made a hole in the shared wall of the society’s water pump room and the branch’s toilet to enter the strong room and then cut holes into the safety vault with gas cutters to steal the gold.
Help from Jharkhand
Probe revealed that the Jharkhand gang was roped in as it has expertise in carrying out such heists across the country. Among the three arrested, one accused is from the same Jharkhand gang. mid-day had published a report on December 28 on the possible involvement of a professional gang of thieves from the town of Rajmahal in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district. The gang has expertise in opening high security vaults with a unique method.
“After the heist was reported we checked all the nearby cell towers of the area and the call details records that night. Through that, we traced the accused. The Thane commissioner Param Bir Singh had put 50 police officers on the case,” said Ajay Kamble police officer from the Ulhasnagar unit of the Thane crime branch.
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