The Uttarakhand police have busted an inter-State gang of thieves which allegedly committed burglary at a shop selling laptops and computers on May 7. A joint team of Dehradun Police and Special Operation Group (SOG) arrested eight accused responsible for the sensational theft of 107 laptops and Rs 10 lakh cash from the Capri Trade Centre located at Chakrata Road on Sunday.
The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Amit Sinha told the media men at his office on Sunday that a Tata Safari SUV, a Santro car, 52 laptops, one TFT, 2 lCD, 6 DVD players, 6 invertors, 11 small batteries, 9 large batteries, 2 large swift cutters and one iron rod (used in crime) were recovered from the possession of the gang. He said that the police team also recovered Rs 1.90 lakh cash from their possession.
Explaining the modus operandi of the gang DIG Sinha said that after a careful selection of target some members do a recce of the targeted shop. The gang used to plant their vehicle in front of the shop and break into it using modern cutters and iron rod. The DIG disclosed that the kingpin of the group is a resident of Mayur Vihar, Delhi, Firoj Malik, who was involved in similar burglaries in Haldwani earlier.
Sinha said that the gang in the preliminary interrogation has conceded its involvement in the burglary at the laptop shop and other thefts at Haridwar, NOIDA, Gaziabad and Bulandshahar district. Apart from Firoj other arrested culprits are Yakub of Bagpat UP, Raju Thakur of Badayun UP, Rakesk Kumar of Delhi, Ashok Sarkar of Meeruth UP, Sunil of Bulandsahar UP, Arjun Bala of Meeruth UP, and Asif of Bagpat UP. The police team included Senior Sub Inspector (SSI) Pradeep Pant, SOG in charge Dehradun Abdul Kalam, SI NS Thakur, SI MS Rawat, SI Vikas Rawat and others.