Two arrested, 21 stolen vehicles recovered

Two persons have been arrested on Saturday for vehicle thefts in several parts of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. The APMC police have recovered 21 stolen vehicles, including 10 autorickshaws and 11 two-wheelers. The accused have been identified as Alam Rafiq Khan (23) and Salman Iqbal Sheikh (25) of Govandi

Navi Mumbai: Two persons have been arrested on Saturday for vehicle thefts in several parts of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. The APMC police have recovered 21 stolen vehicles, including 10 autorickshaws and 11 two-wheelers.

Navi Mumbai, India - January 16, 2023: Investigations into a vehicle theft by APMC police leads to arrest of two accused from Govandi and recovery of 21 other stolen vehicles, in Navi Mumbai, India, on Monday, January 16, 2023. (Photo by Bachchan Kumar/HT PHOTO) (HT PHOTO)

The accused have been identified as Alam Rafiq Khan (23) and Salman Iqbal Sheikh (25) of Govandi.

“It was during the investigation of an autorickshaw theft reported this month in Turbhe area when we came across a CCTV footage, which led us to the accused,” Manik Nalawade, senior police inspector, said.

Assistant police inspector Wasim Shaikh and his team identified Khan from the footage. “Khan is a history-sheeter and hence we could trace him using the details that we had in the department database. The second accused, Sheikh, was his helper, who accompanied and helped in committing the crime,” Shaikh said.

After receiving information that the accused resided in the Govandi area, the police laid a trap and arrested the duo.

“The accused had stolen these vehicles from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane areas,” Vivek Pansare, deputy commissioner of police, zone I, said.

After further questioning by the police, they confessed to have stolen several autorickshaws and two-wheelers from the APMC and Koparkhairane police station limits in Navi Mumbai as well from Samtanagar, Kalwa, Mankhurd, BKC, Gaondevi, Deonar, DN Nagar and Tilak Nagar.

“The accused had planned to sell off various parts of the stolen vehicles to scrap dealers, but before they could do that, we recovered the vehicles,” Shaikh added.

With their arrest, eight cases have been solved in APMC and three in Koparkhairane police station limits. Currently, the duo is in the custody of the APMC police after which the Koparkhairane police would seek their custody.