Mangalore: Police Unravel Unique Vehicle Theft Modus Operandi, Arrest Two
 
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (PS)
 
Mangalore, Feb 22: “In a joint operation by north sub division and Panambur police, a unique criminal modus operandi has been unraveled with the arrest of two involved persons on Tuesday February 21,” said city police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh at a press meet held at his office on Wednesday February 22. DCP Mutthuraya was also present during the press meet.
 
The arrested Naveen Noronha, (36) a resident of Noronha compound, Kotimura, Kulashekar, and Dhananjay (25), resident of Kakkebettu, Kulashekar, were involved in vehicle theft cases wherein they succeeded in stealing as many as 13 vehicles from various places like Bajpe, Panambur, Mulky, Kavoor, Moodbidri, and Suratkal.

On a hunch, the police investigated the arrested duo and they confessed to have stolen vehicles. Their modus operandi involved dismantling an old vehicle and fixing its number plate to the new stolen vehicle. This trick is unique as the old vehicle's RC book details would match the number plate of then stolen vehicle. Only if an attempt is made during vehicle inspection to check the actual chassis number, will the fraud surface.
 
The seized vehicles include four tipper lorries, one top of a lorry, six new tyres, one old tyre, three discs, four jacks, one Bullet bike, a lorry loaded with five and half ton iron rods parked near Mangalore East police station limit, one lorry which was used to transport the stolen vehicles, one Swift car, one Matiz car, and one Kinetic bike. Total cost of the stolen vehicles is estimated at Rs 60,00,000. Investigations are on.

The police commissioner refused to reveal the mode of investigation and said that the police team raided different places as the stolen vehicles were sold by the thieves in various locations. He added that the thieves targeted the vehicles which did not have GPS.
 
Singh also congratulated the police team involved in solving the crime and announced a cash prize of Rs 20,000 to the team.