Raid slams brakes on truck theft racket

One of the trucks seized by the CID in Dhupguri on Friday. Picture by Biplab Basak

TT, Jalpaiguri: A joint raid conducted by the CID and the police on Thursday night has led to seizure of 14 trucks which were stolen from north India and were kept at different locations of Dhupguri, located around 40km from here, for forgery and sale.

Three persons have been arrested during the raid. Police are in search of another who is suspected to be a key person running the vehicle stealing racket.

CID sources said a raid was conducted at the house of Mohammad Hanif, a resident of Millpara in Dhupguri town.

"The team could find eight trucks from Hanif's garage. Also, two persons who were there on the spot were arrested. During interrogation, they revealed that six other trucks have been kept at the local truck terminus. The team went to the terminus and seized those trucks," said a source.

Those arrested have been identified as Sanawar Mohammad and Mansaf Mohammad, both residents of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. The third is Dulal Sarkar, a resident of Dhupguri.

Sources said the trucks were stolen from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and used to be brought in Dhupguri. Hanif, who runs a garage, use to change the engine number, chassis number and registration plates of those trucks and would sale the vehicles with forged papers.

"We suspect Hanif has connections in northeast from where he used to get new registration numbers of these stolen vehicles. On Thursday, they had negotiated a deal with a person who agreed to buy a truck against Rs 3.50 lakh," added the source.

Hanif, however, managed to escape during the raid. Searches are on to nab him. CID officials have also learnt that there are some more associates with Hanif who are based in other states.

"We need to interrogate those who have been arrested for more information," said the investigators.

On Friday, all three arrested were produced at the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court in Jalpaiguri. They were remanded in 10 days' police custody, said sources.