Gang involved in series of burglaries busted, 5 held

Special Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang allegedly involved in a series of burglaries including stealing gold worth over Rs 10 crore from a bank in Tamil Nadu with the arrest of five persons.

"The gang was allegedly active for the past seven years and it had allegedly committed around seven big bank heists till date. Apart from the alleged 48 kg gold burglary from a Bank of Baroda branch at Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, the gang allegedly committed burglaries at banks in Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh," a senior police official in a statement. "Once the members of the gang were tracked around Delhi-NCR, the help of Delhi Police was sought in April and a joint team was formed," said Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell). 

The first suspected member of the gang was tracked down in May, and it took the cops around three months to track down the others. "The accused were identified as Sadiq Ali Khan, Azhar Ali, Faheem, Yusuf and Laik Ali. Sadiq was the alleged mastermind of the gang and planned most of the burglaries, said the police officer.

The accused are natives of Badaun district of western Uttar Pradesh and lived in Delhi, shifting from one rented accommodation to another? mostly in south-east Delhi areas that include Okhla, Badarpur and Jamia Nagar, said the official.

Based on a tip-off, the police first tracked down Laik on May 18 and interrogated him for days.