JAMMU: In a major breakthrough, Police in Sub Division RS Pura busted inter-district gang of burglars with the arrest of five thieves including kingpin along with stolen telecom batteries worth Rs 18 lakh.
This was informed by Superintendent of Police (SP) Headquarters Jammu Adil Hamid while interacting with media persons. SP informed that to work out the theft cases, special teams of RS Pura, Miran Sahib and Bishnah Police Stations were constituted, adding that on specific information, special police took into custody kingpin of a burglars gang, who was identified as Bilal Ahmed Wani, son of Mohammad Ishaq Wani of Baglee Gandoh District Doda, at present Belicharana District Jammu.
“On questioning, Bilal revealed the names of his four more associates namely Mohammad Irfan, son of Abdul Rashid Rather of Chinote Bhaderwah District Doda, at present Belicharana District Jammu, Mohammad Saleem Rather, son of Abdul Rashid Rather of Chinote Bhaderwah District Doda, at present Belicharana Jammu, Imran Ahmed Rather, son of Abdul Rashid Rather of Chinote Bhaderwah, District Doda, at present Belicharana District Jammu and Jamat Ali, son of Mohammad Shafi of Nikki Tawi Belicharana District Jammu”, SP Headquarters Adil Hamid said, adding that all four were taken into custody and on their disclosure 150 mobile tower batteries valuing Rs 18,00,000 have been recovered so far. “All the arrested five thieves were previous employees of various mobile companies viz Airtel, Jio, Vodafone, etc. and were having full technical knowledge about mobile towers.
The group had purchased a van bearing registration number JK02M-0941 and a Bolero Pickup bearing registration number JK02AE-6078 for commission of crime. Both the vehicles have been seized”, SP informed. SP said that the modus operandi of the gang was that they targeted the rural mobile towers as these towers don’t have guards for protection, adding that the areas targeted by them includes Domana, Jhajjar Kotli, Sidhra, Miran Sahib, Bishnah, RS Pura, Vijaypur and Samba. “The accused used to sell the batteries to scrap dealers for Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 after stealing the same”, SP said, adding that scrap dealers are being identified and action as warranted under law will be taken against them.
SP Headquarters said that as many as 6 FIRs registered with Police Stations Domana, Jajjar Kotli, Gandhi Nagar, Miran Sahib, Bishnah and RS Pura have been solved. More recoveries and more arrests are likely. “Moreover four incidents of snatching were also solved which happened in Narwal in the month of February where a snatching of Rs 3000 from a lady took place, in Gandhi Nagar in the month of February where a snatching of Rs 2000 from a lady took place, in Bathindi in the month of March where a snatching of Rs 1500 from a lady took place and in RS Pura where a mobile of a lady was snatched. Mobile phone has been recovered from the accused”, SP Headquarters Adil Hamid added.
Further questioning of the accused is going on to ascertain their involvement in other theft cases, SP informed.
The arrest was made by SHO RS Pura Inspector Jai Pal Sharma, SHO Miran Sahib Inspector Aijaz Wani and SHO Bishnah Inspector Anil Choudhary under the supervision of SDPO RS Pura Shabir Khan, SP Headquarters Jammu Adil Hamid and SSP Jammu Shridhar Patil.
