Theft of Basmati trucks: Gang of robbers busted

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 21

The Amritsar rural police claims to have busted a gang of robbers that had stolen two Basmati-loaded trucks in the past two weeks. The police arrest three accused here today. They have been identified as arhtiya (commission agent) Sartaj Singh, his munim (accountant) Jasbir Singh and chaudhry (head of labour) Gurlal Singh, all residents of Makhi Margind Pura.

The investigation of these cases was carried out by a team led by Harpal Singh, Superintendent of Police (Investigation), Harpreet Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Investigation) and Inspector Ravinder Singh of the Crime Investigation Agency.

Officials claimed that they investigated the matter thoroughly and nabbed the accused. The police also recovered the Basmati grains, loaded in the trucks.

Parampal Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar rural, stated that the robbed truck was recovered from the house of an arhtiya Sartaj Singh, a resident of Makhi Margind Pura. His munim Jasbir Singh, a resident of the same village, helped him to hide the Basmati bags. Meanwhile, Chaudhry Gurlal Singh provided labour for unloading the trucks at Sartaj’s house.

The police has arrested the three accused. The officials claimed that during interrogation, he revealed the names of Gurpreet Singh, Sandhu and Channa Singh, residents of Marhi Gorh Singh, who had perpetrated the crime. However, the main accused are still out of the reach of the police.

“Police teams are conducting raids to nab the rest of the accused. With the busting of this gang and arrest of three persons, we ensure that such incidents can be prevented in future”, said the SSP.

The truck with 290 quintals of Basmati was stolen at gunpoint near Rajewala-Sukhewala T point on the Tarn Taran bypass. The accused intercepted the truck by posing as sales tax officials and stole the truck.

Similarly, another truck loaded with Basmati was stolen near the Jheeta turn. The accused were in a blue beacon car and stopped the truck on the pretext of checking and then stole the truck at gunpoint.