Car theft gang busted, two held

Vadodara: The city crime branch arrested two members of a car theft gang on Friday. The accused include one person who was involved in a series of car thefts in different states.
Sleuths of the crime branch had stopped a moving car over suspicion near the Yamuna Mill Crossroads on Dabhoi Road. It came to light that two persons Arvind alias Aditya Ashok Dubey (25) and Mohammednaeem Mohammedsaleem Qureshi (28) were travelling in the car. Both are residents of different villages in Lalganj taluka of Pratapgadh district in Uttar Pradesh.

The police recovered three mobile phones, 21 keys, a drill and several other items from the car. The duo also did not have the papers for the car that they were using. They were unable to give any explanation for the hardware items that they were carrying and for not having the papers of the vehicle.

The duo was interrogated by the police and it came to light that the car they were using was stolen from Navi Mumbai. The accused had changed the registration number plate of the vehicle to avoid being caught. An offence regarding the car being stolen was registered at the Koperkhairane police station in Navi Mumbai about 15 days back.

According to the police, the accused were looking to sell the stolen car in Gujarat and steal more cars from the state. It came to light that Qureshi was a member of the car theft gang of one Javed alias Loha from Pratapgadh.

Qureshi was arrested in connection with three car thefts in Surat and Ankleshwar and five car thefts in Vadodara. He had spent three months in judicial custody for the car thefts in Vadodara, but started stealing cars soon after coming out of the prison recently. He roped in Dubey for the thefts.