Seven members of a gang of thieves who allegedly stole 81 heavy vehicles in the city in last three years were arrested by the L.B. Nagar police on Tuesday.
Rs. 71.35 lakh and parts of heavy vehicles worth Rs. 1 crore were recovered from them. The police also seized a DCM, Innova car, a Tata Ace autorickshaw and gas cutters from them. Three persons who took the stolen property were also arrested.
Those caught were identified as Ayub, 53, an auto driver of Kishanbagh, Mohd Annu Khan, 28, Ayub Ali Khan, 26, Mohd. Meharaj Khan, 24, Shaik Faiz, 20, Mohd Rafeeq, 35, and Syed Abdul Aziz, 26, while three others -- Syed Afsar, 30, Mohd Baba, 28, and Mohd Pasha -- are absconding.
The gang leader, Ayub, was earlier arrested by the police for allegedly stealing cattle in Hyderabad and neighbouring districts, the police said, and graduated to stealing heavy vehicles in 2012 by forming a gang comprising of drivers and welders. They were involved in 81 cases reported in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medak and Mahabubnagar.
“The gang members used to identify heavy vehicles like tippers, lorries and tankers parked at roadsides, start the vehicles with the help of a screw driver, and take it to a shed at Chandrayangutta. They then used to remove spare parts and dismantle the lorry and sell the parts and scrap to different persons,” Cyberabad Commissioner C. V Anand said.
The police arrested Prakash Goyanka, Managing Director of Devasree Ispath Private Limited Company at Shahnagar, Anwar of Kishanbagh, Hussain of Chandrayangutta for allegedly receiving scrap material, batteries and tyres of the stolen vehicles. Efforts are on to nab the absconding gang members, Mr. Anand added.
