Inter-state gang of vehicle thieves busted

The Operations Cell of the UT police has busted an inter-state gang of thieves, called Munna gang, with the arrest of three of its members. Eleven stolen two-wheelers and eight batteries have been recovered from the gang, which was involved in vehicle thefts across Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.

A police team arrested Aslam, a resident of Ludhiana, near Sector 26 while he was riding a stolen motorcycle. His questioning led the police to two more gang members, Navneet Pratap Singh of Kanpur and Manoj Thakur, alias Munna, of Muradabad, who were arrested in Manimajra with a stolen bike.

Manoj, the kingpin of the gang, is a proclaimed offender and facing over 33 criminal cases in Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Aslam, aged 57, also has a long history of criminal activities, while Navneet was earlier booked under the Excise Act.

The accused said they parked the stolen vehicles in various parts of Chandigarh before transporting them to Ludhiana, where they dismantled these and sold their parts, particularly batteries. The police arrested Jaiprakash, alias Betia, a scrap dealer, who received the stolen vehicles, from Ludhiana. Vehicle documents and eight batteries were seized from his premises.

All four accused are currently in police remand.