Miscreant involved in recent brick-kiln robberies nabbed

Amritsar, January 31

Facing flak from the Brick Kilns’ Association over rising incidents of looting at brick kilns in rural areas, the Amritsar Rural Police have arrested a robber while identifying other members or a robbers’ gang that was behind recent robberies at the brick kilns.

The arrested robber was identified as Kuldeep Singh, alias Keepa of Dharamkot village, while others involved were identified as Jagdev Singh, alias Jagga, and Gopi of Dhirekot village and Darminder Singh and four others. The police said raids were on to nab them.

The Jandiala police said a police team was on patrol at Gadli village when informer told that Kuldeep Singh and his accomplices had formed a gang that was involved in recent lootings at brick kilns brandishing sharp-edged weapons and pistols. The informer told that Kuldeep was going to sell the looted Sonalika tractor in Batala via Dhirekot to Gehri Khazala village. After the police team was alerted and a checkpoint was installed and the accused was arrested.

A preliminary probe revealed that the gang had looted the tractor on January 22 at gunpoint from the brick kiln near Ghainye Ke Bangar village.

The Amritsar Brick Kilns’ Association had alleged that frequent thefts and robberies by armed persons had caused huge losses to brick kiln owners. The association had pointed out that there were around 200 kilns in Amritsar and a majority of them were in rural areas. He said though incidents of armed looting were taking place almost daily, the police had failed to nab the looters.