Motorcycle lifting gang busted, 41 vehicles recovered

Coimbatore: The city police have arrested the leader of a two-wheeler lifting gang and seized 41 stolen vehicles.
J Rasool Mohideen, a resident of Eruvadi in Tirunelveli, was remanded in judicial custody on Tuesday. Police nabbed the 43-year-old man after arresting his accomplice Esakimuthu, also from Tirunelveli, on October 27.

Esakimuthu was arrested in connection with a two-wheeler theft at Gandhipuram. During interrogation, he revealed that he was working under the guidance of Rasool. Deputy commissioner of police (Crime) P Perumal formed a special team headed by assistant commissioner of police T Somasekar to nab him. The team nabbed him near the Tirunelveli New Bus Stand. “Rasool was riding a scooter with a Coimbatore registration plate,” a police officer said.

“During interrogation, Rasool revealed that he was the head of a small gang that had been stealing two-wheelers from Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and other districts since 2017. They targeted vehicles parked outside theatres and shopping malls. He used to send the stolen vehicles to Tirunelveli through a cargo service. His associates would take delivery and sell them to villagers there for low prices. They used to tell the buyers that the vehicles were seized from loan defaulters,” the officer told TOI.

Rasool and gang had stolen over 150 vehicles, of which 80 were from Coimbatore. The officers are in the process of recovering the remaining vehicles.