In a significant breakthrough, the Sambalpur police on Sunday busted a vehicle lifters’ gang by arresting three miscreants and recovered 19 stolen vehicles.
The accused were identified as Ranjit Prasad, Pramod Nayak of Dhenkanal and Pradip Sabar of Koraput.
District Superintendent of Police Ahkhilesh Singh informed that on a tipoff, police conducted a raid and nabbed three key members of the gang. Earlier three members of the gang were arrested while two others are still on the run.
All the recovered vehicles mostly pickup vans, SUV, trucks and motorcycles were stolen from various parts of Sambalpur, Hirakud, Jharsuguda, Angul and Keonjhar. Around 19 vehicles including nine Mahindra Boleros, two power tillers, three trucks and six bikes were seized from the possession of the gang.
Interestingly, the gang availed the vehicle registration number and chassis number of obsolete vehicles, sold as scrap and put them on the stolen vehicles and sold them to the gullible customers. The police are investigating whether the gang has any connection with the RTO staff and brokers.