Factory guard held captive, thieves decamp with goods

Despite tall claims of the Police Department that gangs of thieves are being busted, incidents of thefts are on the rise in the industrial hub. In a latest incident, over 12 thieves barged into a factory, held a guard captive and loaded a huge stock of nuts and bolts on their vehicle and fled the scene.

The incident occurred at Presons Impex at Jaspal Bangar, falling under the jurisdiction of the Sahnewal police station. Interestingly, this is the second theft in the factory in two weeks. The past theft incident was still unsolved.

Owner of the factory Sunil Kumar said around 2 am on Tuesday, four thieves barged into the factory by scaling the outer wall. They cornered the guard and held him captive. Hands of the guard were tied with a rope and a piece of cloth was bundled into his mouth.

“Later around eight more members of the gang broke the main lock of the factory gate and entered the premises. They brought a commercial vehicle inside the unit on which they loaded a large quantity of nuts and bolts worth around Rs 8 lakh and escaped from the place. Later, the guard managed to untie his hands and informed the police,” the owner said.

He alleged that the police were informed around 2.30 am about the incident and he also went to the police station but no official came to the factory for hours to conduct a probe.

“We want the police to register a case against the suspects and arrest them as soon as possible so that our stolen goods can be recovered. We will also raise the matter before the Commissioner of Police (CP) to demand speedy investigation in the matter,” Sunil said.

The owner said about two weeks ago, thieves had committed a theft in his unit and decamped with 400 nuts and bolts. Following which, he had employed a permanent guard in the factory but thieves are so fearless as they again targeted their factory and even held a guard captive and committed a theft.

Meanwhile, other factory owners gathered at the site and blamed the police for failing to ensure proper patrolling in the area.