Three of a gang with around 300 house breaking cases against them arrested

Borivali police arrested three men from an inter-state gang for stealing ₹30 lakh in jewellery. They have 295 theft cases across multiple cities.

MUMBAI: The Borivali police on Saturday arrested two men belonging to an inter-state gang who break into houses and steal jewellery. Three weeks ago, they broke into a house in Borivali and stole jewellery worth ₹30 lakh. The main accused, Salim Habib Qureshi, was arrested on November 10. The investigation revealed that Qureshi had broken into houses of many high-profile personalities and politicians in Madhya Pradesh, including gangster Chhota Rajan’s house in 2001.

Three of a gang with around 300 house breaking cases against them arrested

The gang has at least 295 cases of thefts and house breakings registered against its members in several cities like Jaipur, Surat, Uttar Pradesh, Hyderabad and Pune.

The police said that the latest theft took place in a house in Silver Gold Building at Mandapeshwar Road in Borivali (West) when the owners were out of town between October 30 and November 3. The robbers allegedly broke the front door to get in. When the family returned home on November 4, they saw their cupboards had been ransacked and jewellery missing. Based on their complaint, the Borivali police registered an FIR. The CCTV footage of the area helped the police identify Qureshi, 53, who hails from Hyderabad. The police were able to trace his location to Khalapur Toll Plaza on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, where they arrested him.

Qureshi’s arrest led the police to find two other accomplices, Israr Ahmed Qureshi, 48-year-old from Uttar Pradesh and Kabarali Yaadali Shaikh, 40-year-old from Wadala. A police officer said that jewellery worth ₹20 lakh was found after searching the houses of the accused. They also found a car that the accused used to recce the area, looking for locked houses to break into.

“We have arrested the three men and are now trying to find out how many more houses they had broken into and robbed in and around Mumbai,” said an officer from Borivali police station.