Navi Mumbai bank heist: Goldsmith who bought booty arrested near Mumbai

This is the fifth arrest in the case.

The police on Monday arrested a goldsmith from Malegaon in connection with the Sanpada bank heist. This is the fifth arrest in the case.

Thirty lockers of Bank of Baroda were looted between November 10 and November 12 by digging a 30-foot tunnel from a nearby shop

Some of the stolen valuables, including gold jewellery, have been recovered from the arrested people. The police, however, did not disclose the amount of the recovered booty.

“The goldsmith bought the stolen jewellery. We are now trying to find out if he was part of the conspiracy,” said a senior crime branch official. It is not clear whether he bought part of the booty as the police were interrogating him at the time of going to press.

The police have refused to reveal the name of the goldsmith because doing so may alert other accused, said an investigating officer. Sudhakar Pathare, deputy commissioner of police (zone 1), said, “There are some major developments in this case. The investigation is going on at a national level and we hope to crack it within a short span of time.”

Another officer from Sanpada police station said, “We have learnt that criminals from Maharashtra and other states were part of the heist. People from Maharashtra are from places such as Nalasopara, Dhuliya and Mumbai, Thane etc. Similarly, criminals from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand are also involved.”

Thirty lockers of Bank of Baroda were looted between November 10 and November 12 by digging a 30-foot tunnel from a nearby shop. After taking statements of all people who had lockers in the bank, the police have concluded that valuables worth Rs 3.19 crore were stolen.

Gena Bachchan Prasad, who had taken the shop on rent in May, has been missing. He had submitted fake PAN and Aadhar cards for the rent agreement, according to the police.