Rural cops bust gang of interstate highway dacoits

Nagpur: An interstate gang of transporters-turned-dacoits was busted by the Local Crime Branch (LCB) of the rural police this week, after they hijacked two heavy vehicles and were planning more crimes. The gang was planning to rob more truckers and hijack more vehicles which would have been sold as scrap to a dealer in Kolkata.
The persons arrested have been identified as Simarjeet Singh of Punjab, and Noor Mohd, Abdul Rehman Khan and Mohd Tasribuddin of Uttar Pradesh. They were trapped on Bhandara Road by the LCB team under Senior PI Omprakash Kokate, working under the supervision of SP Vishal Anand and Addl SP Sandeep Pakhale. “The gang had rented a room at Hingna and were staying there as transporters,” informed the officials.
The cops had scrutinized more than 200 CCTV cameras after the gang hijacked a vehicle near Kanhan, and another at Ramtek last week.
The gang, with six members, had tied up the driver and cleaner near Mathni toll naka, and hijacked their heavy vehicle. The driver and cleaner were forced down from the vehicle near Kanhan. The cops traced footage of the gang’s activities at the CCTV cameras at the toll naka , which later proved to be crucial for the cops.
It’s learnt Simarjeet had formed the gang after suffering heavy losses during lockdown and facing substantial debts and loans to repay. The cops are now ascertaining whether the gang had committed more crimes elsewhere. “The gang had found a scrap dealer at Kolkata via Google, and had set up a deal with him. Their target was to steal five vehicles, which they intended to sell as scrap to the dealer,” said the senior officials, adding SP Vishal had set the target for the LCB team to nab the highway dacoits who used to roam in a car and intercept vehicles to hijack them.
This gang has more members, who are yet to be nabbed. Police have seized the stolen vehicles and their car from them.