This gang broke into train luggage van, burgled laptops

 Three men from Uttar Pradesh who adopted a unique way to burgle valuables from luggage-cum-brake vans have been arrested in a joint operation by the Bengaluru City Railway Police (BCRP) and Mumbai Railway Police (MRP).

The police have recovered 27 out of 28 stolen Apple Macbooks worth Rs 32 lakh from Kamal Yadav, 39, Dinesh Chandra, 38, Jagadish Chandra, 38. All three are from Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh. Three others involved in the burglary are at large, a BCRP officer told DH from Mumbai. “We have arrested three men and recovered stolen laptops worth Rs 32 lakh in a joint operation with the MRP. We will take their custody for interrogation,” said Anoop Shetty, SP, Railways.

Six people had burgled 28 laptops from an brake van of Udyan Express on September 25, 2016. Parasmal Modi, a resident of Chickpet and branch manager of Marudhar Express Service, Bengaluru, a courier firm, has taken the brake van of the train for five years on lease to transport goods from Mumbai. Passengers’ goods are not loaded in brake vans as they are given to private persons on lease. Brake vans are attached to the guard’s room for safety reasons, next to the locomotive. A small passage divides the guard’s room and the brake van.

The suspects boarded the train at Dadar railway station at 8 am on September 25, 2016, after realising that the guard did not board the train. They climbed atop the brake van unscrewed a portion of its top and one of them entered inside. He collected laptops and came out. Later, they fitted the top and deboarded at the next station. The entire operation was over within 20 minutes, police said.

“This modus operandi is a first of its kind in the history of Indian railways. The suspects have been burgling valuables in a similar fashion for the last two years from trains originating from Mumbai. We are ascertaining the number of offences committed by them,” Shetty said.

The suspects have taken a house on rent in Firozabad, where they would store the stolen booty and sell them later.

After receiving the materials at the Bengaluru city station on September 26, 2016, Modi realised that Macbooks were missing. He lodged a complaint with the BCRP on October 4, 2016. The BCRP shared information with the MRP. In January 2017, an informant of MRP received a WhatsApp message about sale of Apple Macbooks for lesser price, along with images. The number on a laptop in the image matched with that one of the stolen laptops and the BCRP was informed.

A BCRP team led by police inspector R Diwakar was sent to Mumbai. Later, a joint team went to Firozabad after striking a deal with the man who had sent the message. Based on his information, the police arrested the trio.