Interstate gang behind commercial vehicle thefts busted, recover 47 stolen vehicles

Mumbai police bust interstate gang stealing vehicles, forging documents, and selling them with new registration numbers, recovering 47 vehicles worth ₹7.33 crore.

Mumbai: The Crime Branch of Mira Bhayander – Vasai Virar (MBVV) police busted an interstate gang engaged in the theft of commercial vehicles. The gang employed a strategy of stealing vehicles, forging documents, registering them in northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and later transferring the registration to Maharashtra Regional Transport Offices (RTO) for sale under different registration numbers. The police recovered 47 stolen vehicles with an estimated value of around ₹7.33 crore.

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The MBVV police commissioner, Madhukar Pandey, directed the Crime Branch to thoroughly investigate vehicle theft cases since the establishment of the police commissionerate in 2020. After investigating a series of thefts, the Crime Branch Unit I arrested Azhar Sheikh, 35, Sameer Khan, 41, Mohammad Shah, 48, and Sheikh Naseer, 43, from Alwar in Rajasthan.

During the questioning, the police learned that the gang used to steal vehicles of a particular model, mainly Aaysher tempos, and forge the documents of the vehicles before getting them registered in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. The gang then requested the transfer of registration and acquired the no-objection certificate from Maharashtra regional transport offices by changing the number plate and chassis number before selling the vehicles with new Maharashtra registration numbers.

In 2021, the Waliv police registered a case of tempo theft. The police started the probe by scanning the CCTV footage of the area where the vehicle was parked to find out in which direction the robber.

Officials said that they followed the vehicle through the network of CCTVs and found that the vehicle had been taken towards Talasari on the Mumbai-Ahemdabad Highway, then to Baroda from where it was taken to Godhra and then to Rewadi toll junction in Rajasthan where the accused changed the number plate of the vehicle and drove it to Alwar where they intended to change its chassis number and engine number.

Till now, it has been revealed that this gang has stolen about 47 vehicles from various states costing ₹7.33 crore. It has been revealed that the accused are involved in 16 different crimes. Deputy commissioner of the Crime Branch, Avinash Ambure said that the accused are part of a much larger gang, and efforts were on to track down other members of the gang.