Mumbai: Ten accused, who had allegedly planned and executed an armed robbery at a jewellery manufacturing unit in Zaveri Bazaar earlier this week, were arrested within 30 hours of the offence being committed. The arrests were made during a joint operation by the LT Marg police station and the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Friday.
According to the police, seven men armed with guns had entered the unit in Sutar Chawl around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday. They allegedly bound and gagged the employees and decamped with gold jewellery worth ₹36 lakh. A complaint was filed at LT Marg police station. An officer said, “An informant tipped us off on Thursday that one of the accused was in Nehru Nagar, Kurla. We picked him up within an hour.”
He said in such cases, the accused usually flee the city and lie low till things have cooled down. Realising that the other accused could escape them, interrogators provided information obtained in real-time from the arrested accused to officers in the field, leading to six more arrests by Friday morning. Meanwhile, the Crime Branch’s Unit II provided leads to LT Marg police station.
By Friday morning, Unit II had picked up three accused who had conducted a recce of the jewellery workshop and provided information to the other seven. The trio was handed over to LT Marg police station.
DCP (Zone II) Dnyaneshwar Chavan said, “We’ve recovered gold jewellery worth ₹26.7 lakh from the arrested accused, and the firearms used in the robbery. This was a well-planned crime.”
Officers said Zaveri Bazaar has scores of jewellery manufacturing units, which operate with little or no security, making them easy targets for robbers. Despite repeated appeals by the police, the owners of these units don’t go in for basic security measures like employing guards or installing CCTV systems. “We have dedicated units patrolling areas where such units are located to try and keep robberies under control,” an officer said.
