Stolen vehicles found at authorised vehicle scrapping centre

Officials said that following a tip off, the police from Madhuban Bapudham and Sihani Gate police stations raided Seven-Star Auto Scrapping Centre around 2am

Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad police during a late night raid in Morta locality on Tuesday recovered seven stolen vehicles and arrested eight people, including the owner and staff of an authorised vehicle scrapping centre who were allegedly found scrapping vehicles procured from thieves, officials said on Wednesday.

“At the scrap centre, the employee used to take out usable parts of the vehicles and would scrap the rest of the material which was further sold to earn profits,” the ACP said (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Officials said that following a tip off, the police from Madhuban Bapudham and Sihani Gate police stations raided Seven-Star Auto Scrapping Centre around 2am and found three stolen two-wheelers and registration plate of a stolen scrapped two-wheeler. Police also seized four more stolen two-wheelers (Honda Activa) from a nearby building.

“We arrested Nawab Malik, 50, owner of the seven-star scrapping centre, and his employee Riyazuddin, 45. The employee was found cutting and scrapping the two-wheelers,” Suryabali Maurya, ACP of Kavi Nagar circle, told HT.

“During the investigation, it came to light that two vehicle-lifters (identified as Naresh Kumar, 40, and Sunil Singh, 42) picked up two-wheelers from different areas in Ghaziabad and sold these to auto mechanics and also to the scrap centre for at least ₹5,000 per vehicle. The two lifters also said that they targeted the old make of the two-wheelers as their locks used to open easily with the master keys,” he added.

Four other suspects, identified as Mohammad Nadeem, 32, Krishna Singh, 33, Mohammad Sageer, 35, and Fazlu Mohammad, 40, were auto mechanics, said officials.

“At the scrap centre, the employee used to take out usable parts of the vehicles and would scrap the rest of the material which was further sold to earn profits,” the ACP said

“We will soon be writing to the concerned licensing authority to scrap the license of the scrap centre. Further, we will also write to the other departments to get the facility checked and inspected. Our investigation is going on, and it will take more time to assess how many stolen vehicles were processed at the centre and also by four suspect mechanics,” the ACP added.

The officials said that all three two-wheelers found at the scrap center were stolen, with cases registered in 2026 at Kaushambi, Indirapuram and Muradnagar police stations, while the registration plate of a scrapped two-wheeler was also identified as that of a stolen vehicle, with a case registered at Kavi Nagar police station.

The other four vehicles recovered from the building near the scrap center were also stolen, and respective cases were registered at Sihani Gate police station, officials added further.

“The licenses for the scrap centre are issued by the transport commissioner’s office. Once we receive a written recommendation of cancellation of the license of the Seven-Star Auto Scrapping Centre, we will forward it to the transport commissioner’s office. There are well-laid guidelines, and no unauthorised vehicles can be scrapped. The liability for scrapping unauthorized vehicles rests with the scrap center,” said PK Singh, regional transport officer.