Pune: 7 arrested for robbing trucks on highways

A gang allegedly involved in the theft of goods carrying vehicles on the Pune highway has been busted on Thursday.

Seven alleged members of the gang have been arrested by the Pune rural police. The accused used to track the vehicles carrying costly goods and abduct the drivers on the highway, the police said.

Sandip Patil, Superintendent of Police (Rural Pune) told , "Since there were already some cases of similar crime Pune rural police were tracking these accused for long. Yesterday, when they were committing a similar crime, a team of Pune police's local crime branch suspected the movement of two trucks and followed them. The accused broke the barricades and divider at several locations at highway after getting to know that police are following them. However, they were arrested near Shirur tehsil of Pune."

"Police have recovered trucks of cigarettes worth more than Rs 4 crore and rescued the abducted truck drivers. Some of the accused who managed to escape in sugarcane fields during the operation, were also arrested later by police," said Patil.

All accused are from Devas, Madhya Pradesh and are booked in similar cases registered in other states as well. So far, it is revealed that there are about more than 11 cases registered against them, he added.

( With inputs from ANI )