Gurugram police arrest multi-crore jewellery heist masterminds from Bangladesh border

On the intervening night of December 9 and 10, four men had climbed the three-storey building of the showroom using nylon ropes, climbed down to the ceiling of the strongroom, cut a hole in it, slid down and fled with jewellery worth ₹12.9 crore and ₹10.26 lakh cash.

The Gurugram police has arrested three of the six accused in the multi-crore jewellery heist at a jewellery showroom in Sector 14 on the Old Gurugram-Delhi Road last Sunday, the police said, adding that they have also recovered all the ornaments and 80% of the stolen cash from them.

The arrested accused have been identified as Safikul Mandal (in brown jacket), Zaffar Rahman (in blue sweatshirt) and Sultan Mumtaz (on the right). (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The accused have been identified as Safikul Mandal, Zaffar Rahman and Sultan Mumtaz. The three men, residents of West Bengal and Bangladesh, were arrested from near the India-Bangladesh border, as they were trying to exit the country, the police said.

The three accused were produced in Dakshin Dinajpur court on Sunday and were taken on transit remand. “We will produce them before the district court and take them on police remand for further investigation,” said assistant commissioner of police (ACP), crime, Shamsher Singh .

After the heist, masterminds Rahman and Mandal had given some jewellery and ₹5 lakh to the remaining four members of the gang and told them to meet in West Bengal’s Balurghat on December 15. Police teams are carrying out raids in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to nab the remaining three accused. With these arrests, the police said they have solved the biggest theft of the year.

On the intervening night of December 9 and 10, four men had climbed the three-storey building of the showroom using nylon ropes, climbed down to the ceiling of the strongroom, cut a hole in it, slid down and fled with jewellery worth ₹12.9 crore and ₹10.26 lakh cash. These men were helped by two of the accused who had hidden inside the showroom.

On December 10, Mandal boarded a flight to Kolkata and Rahman continued working at the showroom till he was arrested, the police said.

ACP Singh said masterminds Hussain and Mandal are tech-savvy criminals who kept a tab on police activity through local newspapers and used Google maps to identify an escape route.

According to the police, Rahman and Mandal had been conducting a reconnaissance of Sector 14 since mid-July and had selected the target. They planned the heist at end of July.

All the three accused, who were arrested on Sunday, had worked in the store as part of their reconnaissance and were “planted” at the store on August 2. While one left after working for four days, the others continued to gain the trust of other employees. Other accused had also visited the store posing as customers.

“The gang members planned to rob the store before Diwali, but postponed it for December,” Singh said, adding that during the time they worked at the store, they never spoke with each other on the phone.

The police also put the onus on the store management for hiring employees without proper police verification, a charge which was refuted by store manager Sangeeta Jain. Jain said the company had hired the three accused, only after their antecedents had been checked by the police, and had even submitted a copy of their Aadhar card and rent agreement. “The verification letter is stamped by the police and they did not find any past (criminal) record of these men,” Jain said.

Police commissioner KK Rao said, “People who run such businesses (jewellery) should tighten their hiring process. Also, security systems should be updated regularly.”