A heavy vehicle driver R. Raju, 25, of Karimnagar district, who resorted to thefts of vehicles and tyres, was arrested along with his associate G. Praveen Kumar, 24, by the Hayathngar police on Tuesday.
Two lorries, 12 tyres of trucks, 920 tins of cooking oil and a bike, -all worth Rs. 28 lakh- were recovered from the accused, the Vanasthalipuram ACP, K. Ramchander Rao, said. Raju was arrested thrice earlier in theft cases and was lodged in jail.
He came out of the prison a year ago and continued to commit thefts. After stealing a bike three months ago from Nalgonda district, he drove away a lorry parked on roadside at Hayathnagar in first week of this month. He hid the lorry near hillocks of Kothaguda village. A week ago, he stole another lorry laden with tins of cooking oil.
He drove to Choutuppal and sold some tins to a businessman there before returning to the hillocks in Kothaguda where he hid the truck. The accused also stole tyres of several lorries and sold them with the help of Praveen. On a tip-off, the Hayathnagar Inspector B. Bhaskar caught the two accused and recovered the stolen property.
