New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS) After a brief exchange of fire, the Delhi Police’s Special Cell nabbed two members of Mewat-based interstate ATM robbery gang from Delhi’s Pul Prahladpur area, an official said on Saturday.
With the arrest of the accused, identified as Shohrab (27) and Sameer Khan (24), both residents of Haryana’s Nuh district, the police claimed to have solved five ATM robbery cases registered in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. The accused took away Rs 87 lakh cash after breaking those five ATMs.
The police said that Shohrab, the kingpin of the gang, is previously involved in 30 criminal cases including 25 ATMs breaking in Delhi, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
According to Alok Kumar, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), in view of the increase in incidents of ATMs breaking in Delhi, a team was deployed to collect intelligence and to identify the gang behind these crimes.
“Efforts of three month succeeded when a specific input was received on January 19 about the presence of two members of a gang indulged in ATMs breaking near the sports ground Surajkund road, Pul Prahladpur in their Ecco car,” said the DCP.
A trap was laid by the police team, and when the Ecco was seen coming from Faridabad side on Surajkund road, it was signalled to stop.
“Two persons were sitting in the car, and both tried to flee from the spot by reversing the car but their way was blocked by the team. Shohrab and Sameer came out of the car. Shohrab took out his pistol and fired a shot towards the team. Members of the team also fired a round in self-defence to overpower both the miscreants and finally, both were overpowered and disarmed by the team,” said the official.
A semi-automatic pistol of .30 caliber with three bullets was recovered from Shohrab and a single shot pistol with two cartridges was recovered from Sameer’s possession.
The duo along with their four other associates had stolen cash in ATMs from Uttam Nagar and Hari Nagar in Delhi in 2022, and on January 11, they robbed cash from two ATMs in Gwalior and one in Morena in Madhya Pradesh.
“Remaining members of the gang have been identified. Further interrogation and efforts to nab the absconding associates are in progress,” the official said.
Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, the DCP said that the members of the gang used to identify unguarded ATM booths in isolated areas. Then, they used to conduct a thorough recce of the area around such ATM booths.
“The accused used to sprinkle black paint on the CCTV cameras after entering the ATM booths, they also used to wear face masks or monkey caps to conceal their identity. They used to open the ATM with the help of gas cutters and take out the cash from the tray and flee from the spot,” said the official.
Members of the gang also used to steal or rob SUV cars, and use these cars during ATM robberies.
–IANS
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