Four arrested for looting container carrying peanuts worth ₹2 crore

Four people, including a Faridabad based transporter, were arrested for allegedly looting a container carrying a consignment of peanuts worth ₹2 crore, said police on Friday.

Police said the vehicle was transporting 899 sacks of peanuts from Maharashtra to Delhi and the driver had stopped for some repair works at the container owner’s warehouse at Bilaspur on June 14.

After the driver left for Delhi the same night, the container could not be traced as both the GPS fitted in the vehicle and the truck driver’s mobile phone were found switched off. The owner of the container lodged a complaint at Bilaspur police station, based on which an FIR was registered on June 16.

Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Preet Pal Sangwan said during investigation, it was found that the driver had connived with a man to sell the entire consignment of peanuts in the market. They also roped in a transporter from Faridabad for selling peanuts in the market.

The ACP said a crime branch team from Sector-39 police station, headed by inspector Samer Singh Ahlawat, arrested driver Abid Khan (23) from Alwar in Rajasthan and the transporter Devender Sharma (35) from near Gurugram-Faridabad toll plaza on June 21.

During interrogation of the arrested suspects, Abid’s close associate Kasim Khan (45), who planned the loot, and one Mohammad Sabir (20) were arrested from Biwa village in Nuh and Dwarkapur in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, respectively on Thursday.

Police said based on Kasim’s confession, 429 sacks of peanuts loaded in the looted container were recovered from Biwa while another 450 sacks loaded in another truck was seized after getting Devender’s confession.

Police said Abid took out the GPS fitted in the truck near Panchgawa Chowk after he left from Rathiwas in Bilaspur with the container. He loaded 450 sacks in the truck brought by Devender on the Faridabad-Gurugram road and fled after handing over the container to Kasim.

Police said that Abid and Kasim had sold at least 20 sacks of peanuts. According to police, Kasim has criminal antecedents and had earlier looted a truck full of betelnut, for which an FIR was registered against him at Kherki Daula police station in 2015.