Tirupur: An unidentified gang hijacked a truck laden with more than one lakh eggs after kidnapping its driver and two load men at knifepoint near Avinashi here a few days ago.
The incident came to light on Friday when truck driver C Ponnusamy, of Perundapalipatti in Namakkal, lodged a complaint with the Avinashi police.
According to police, the incident took place when Ponnusamy, along with load men Varadharajan, 26, and Nachimuthu, 38, was transporting one lakh and seven thousand eggs from Namakkal to Kuniyamuthur in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
When they reached Nalligoundanpalayam near Thekkalur on Salem-Kochi National Highway, they stopped the truck on roadside and fell asleep. In the early hours of Thursday, five unidentified people woke them up, threatened them at knifepoint and kidnapped them in a car. The trio were, however, let off at Thanneerpandalpalayam near Karuvalur on Mettupalayam road, but not before robbing them of Rs 600 and three mobile phones, police said.
As the trio didn’t have money to board bus, they walked all the way to Nalligoundanpalayam, where the truck was parked. But the vehicle was found missing. They did not approach police soon, as they attempted to trace the truck themselves.
Based on the complaint, the Avinashi police formed a special team and found the truck abandoned at Karuppur in Salem. It is not known whether the eggs were stolen or not. tnn
