The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Police wake up to vehicle thefts

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Wednesday, Oct 01, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Police wake up to vehicle thefts

Staff Reporter

Suspected terrorists are using stolen vehicles

Officers told to review theft cases reported in the last three months
List of stolen vehicles to be circulated among
all police stations

BANGALORE: With suspected terrorists increasingly using stolen or used vehicles, the State police have now turned their attention on cracking vehicle thefts.

On September 25, the Bangalore police discovered that suspected militant Mohammed Samee Bagewadi was using a stolen motorcycle. He had been arrested for his alleged association in the serial blasts in the city. Three alleged activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India organisation — Adnan, Nazir and Asadulla — had given the motorcycle to Bagewadi to carry out serial blasts in Goa and Karnataka, the police claimed.

In a circular on Tuesday, Additional Director-General of Police (Crime and Technical Services) S.T. Ramesh asked officers to review all cases of theft reported in the last three months and intensify efforts to crack the cases. Vehicle thefts should be given special attention, Mr. Ramesh emphasised.

In January, the Hubli-Dharwad police arrested alleged SIMI activists Asadulla Abubakar (22) of Hospet and Raziuddin Nazir (22) of Hyderabad for their alleged involvement in vehicle thefts. The police recovered registration number plates of six vehicles. In addition, the police also found in their possession two compact discs — one containing a network software and another containing details of a teaching in a madrasa in a Kerala village, tourist guide maps of Karnataka, Goa, Udupi and Mangalore, an ATM card and a pouch containing $205. Investigations later revealed their alleged links with the SIMI and their alleged plans to carry out destructive activities in different parts of the State, the police claimed.

The use of stolen vehicles by terror suspects is not restricted to Karnataka alone. Afzal Mutalib Usmani, one of the five suspected members of the Indian Mujahideen, recently arrested by Mumbai police, was found responsible for the theft of four motor vehicles from Navi Mumbai. These four vehicles were used in the Ahmedabad blasts.

Tuesday’s police circular in Bangalore has ordered that a list of two-wheelers and four-wheelers stolen in the past three months should be circulated among the 876 police stations in the State. “This is one the strategies being followed by us. We are sensitising our men on the importance of detecting vehicle thefts,” Mr. Ramesh told The Hindu.

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