The Kollam West police on Thursday busted a four-member vehicle theft racket that had stolen around 40 two-wheelers.
The arrested have been identified as Kavanad resident Ananthakrishnan, 24, Kureepuzha resident Rony, 24, Asramam resident Robin, 27, and Anandavalleswaram resident Deny George, 31.
On Wednesday night, the team on patrolling duty found Ananthakrishnan and Tony near Canara Bank at High School Junction under suspicious circumstances. Upon questioning, the duo said they parked their two-wheeler near Victoria Hospital after it ran out of petrol. However, the patrolling team found another motorcycle near them with key. After searching the accused, the police retrieved several two-wheeler keys from them. The accused were taken into custody after the police found that the bike near Victoria Hospital had fuel. When both the vehicles were taken to the police station, it was revealed that they were the mainours in different theft cases registered in the Kollam West and East police stations.
During interrogation, the accused confessed to stealing around 40 vehicles from Kollam East, Chathannur, Kilikollur, Anchalumoodu, Chavara, Varkala and Kayamkulam police station limits. The accused were nabbed by the West police while investigation has been ongoing in different stations.
According to officials, they first parked a stolen two-wheeler near Victoria Hospital and were trying to steal another vehicle from High School Junction when they were taken into custody. The police said that the bike in which they reached the location was also stolen. “Ananthakrishnan and Rony used to steal vehicles at night and take them to the workshop of Robin and Deny George. The vehicles were then dismantled for spare parts and sold,” they said. The arrest was made by a team led by Inspector Shefeeq following the instructions of ACP Pradeep Kumar.
