Lucknow police have busted a notorious interstate gang of gadget thieves and arrested five accused from Lucknow, all hailing from Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district.
The gang targeted students in the city’s college clusters, stealing electronic gadgets, especially laptops, and transporting them to Tamil Nadu for resale in local markets, officials said on Tuesday.
“Taking advantage of unattended hostel rooms, they entered when students were either asleep or out for tea or breakfast, and decamped with laptops,” ADCP (north) Amol Murkut said in a press briefing.
According to police, the action followed a late-night tip-off about suspicious men with multiple backpacks waiting near IIM Road’s Yadav Chauraha. A raid led to the detention of the five suspects, who were found carrying a large consignment of stolen electronic items.
Police recovered 65 mobile phones, 15 laptops, two tablets, and two motorcycles in the operation, carried out by the DCP’s crime surveillance unit along with Madiaon police. “These stolen items were found in their rented hut in Madiaon before their transportation to Vellore,” Murkut said.
“Investigations also revealed that the gang was systematically targeting mobile phones and laptops across Lucknow and neighbouring districts, including Jalaun. The accused would collect the stolen devices at pre-decided points before transporting them to Tamil Nadu, where the same were offloaded in local markets,” the ADCP added.
Those arrested were identified as Karthik Srinivasan, 31, Muttu, 30, Gopal, 27, Hari, 30, and Ajay Narayanan, 50. “Karthik, the gang leader, has a long criminal history in Coimbatore, including multiple theft cases and detention under the Goondas Act,” Murkut said.
Police said Ajay Narayanan had learnt Hindi for better communication in the city and other parts of the state. Police said the gang was connected to at least 10 previously registered cases — eight in Lucknow (Madiaon, Aliganj, Chinhat, Vikasnagar, BKT, and Bazaarkhala) and two in Jalaun district.
The accused told the interrogators that they travelled by air when the recovery was big.
A fresh FIR was filed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and the accused were produced before a court on Tuesday.