Pune cops arrest youths who stole Maruti Eeco silencers to extract valuable metal dust

Officers of the Loni Kalbhor police station were probing at least six different thefts registered in their jurisdiction between 2021 and 2022, in which the silencers of Maruti Eeco multi utility vehicles (MUVs) had been stolen. The teams were trying to gather information from various possible sources on the specific type of thefts which were done with the motive to extract metal dust, which is sold at a very high cost in the illegal market.

On April 16, a team from the Detection Branch of the police station received leads on suspects involved in such thefts. They got a tip-off from the informers that the suspects were coming to the Uruli Devachi area. A trap was laid and two suspects travelling in a car were detained. In the subsequent probe conducted over the next couple of days, the police seized metal dust from their possession, which is believed to have been extracted from over a dozen such silencers units.

The police have identified the suspects as Shivprasad Rokde (21) and Ram Dhole (20), both residents of Alandi, and seized a car they were using to carry out the thefts. The police are also probing their role in cases elsewhere.

Senior inspector Rajendra Mokashi, in-charge of the Loni Kalbhor police station, said, “The two arrested youths have no prior record of any criminal activity. We are now probing how the metal dust collected from these silencers was being sold further and if the accused have any accomplices.”

Officials said that they suspect a racket which has a supply chain spread over many cities of India is operating behind this. Explaining why these specific silencers are being stolen, an officer said, “The existing emission norms in the country mandate all new vehicles to have a catalytic converter in their silencers or emission systems. The catalytic converter filters the pollutants that the combustion of engines produces. For this purpose, the emission pipes have the inside coated with a mixture of platinum, rhodium and palladium. If a vehicle is new, then the metals are in higher quantities. While some other cars too have these layers, the reason the silencers of the specific make are mostly targeted is because of the possibly higher amounts of some of the metals and comparative ease in detaching the units from the car.”

The police said that the mixed dust of the three metals is sold at Rs 3,000 per gram in the illegal market. Similar thefts of silencers have been reported in the past from various places in Mumbai and Gujarat.