TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: In a major breakthrough into a series of thefts and house burglaries, Crime Branch’s anti-burglary squad has cracked 12 cases reported at different police stations across the State with the arrest of a Kerala-native, Abdul Aziz alias Sohail Batvhani.
The team headed by Police Inspector Sandesh Chodankar has recovered as many as 93 stolen articles worth Rs 30 lakh from his possession.
Officials have not ruled out further arrests and recoveries.
The accused was involved in crimes reported at Panjim, Mapusa, Porvorim, Calangute and Margao police stations, since February 2014. LCDs, laptops, computers, cameras, mobile phones, video conferencing system, printers, e-tablets and other electronic gadgets were recovered from locations at Kerala, Rajasthan and Kashmir.
The police said the accused was living here from February to the first week of May when he left with his wife and two children back to his native land. He had taken a car on rent but failed to return it to the owner. A complaint was filed and this is how he was tracked down to Kerala and arrested with stolen articles. He was brought here on transfer warrant soon thereafter. CB officials said he has confessed to the crimes.
The team has also cracked down on a gang involved in theft of vehicles with the arrest of an unidentified accused who was caught with a Suzuki Access scooter GA-07-M-3868 and Rs 1.34 lakh cash.
The State has been hit by a spate of robberies and thefts with many of them being executed in broad daylight, putting severe pressure on the police to crack these cases.
