29 motorcycles recovered after year old theft cases in Arunachal
Tinsukia: After more than a year of lull in motorcycle theft cases, it does not mean a lost battle for the Namsai police.
They quickly bounced back and arrested four bike lifters from neighboring Tinsukia and Namsai districts, cracking more than half a dozen old cases, leading to the recovery of 29 stolen bikes, including three on Sunday.
In 2022, a total of 18 cases of motor vehicle theft were registered and registered in various police stations under Namsai district. Three more incidents of two-wheeler theft were reported since January 2023, but the police remained clueless until another theft was reported on February 22 this year.
Namsai Superintendent of Police DW Thongon said, “The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was formed to crack down on the thefts, could not make any headway, given the first clue from the CCTV footage. ” said Namsai Police Superintendent DW Thongon.
Thongon said that although the footage collected was not clear, based on the physical makeup of the person seen in the footage, various sources were engaged, and the suspect was identified, and a search was launched.
The accused was nabbed and arrested from neighboring Tinsukia with the help of Tinsukia police. “Based on the revelation of 27-year-old Ripunjoy Duwara, who hails from Bojaltoli village in Tinsukia, the co-accused has been identified as 35-year-old Babul Buragohain, a resident of Sumonipathar village under Sadiya police station,” Thongon said.
“In a pursuit operation, Buragohain was arrested along with Sanjit Shakti, 32, of Mahadevpur when the two were trying to escape from Namsai district.”
He said, “It has been revealed that the duo had stolen a Pulsar bike on the night of their arrest, which was later recovered by the police, while the fourth, who was seen with Buragohain in the CCTV footage, The accused was arrested from his house in Namsai, identified as 37-year-old Girin Sakia.
Thongon further said that during detailed interrogation, all the accused confessed their involvement in various cases of motor vehicle theft, due to which the SIT recovered a total of 26 two-wheelers from different parts of East Arunachal districts.
Among those recovered are 11 Bajaj Pulsar, 3 Royal Enfield, 2 Yamaha bikes, 4 TVS Super Splendor, 1 TVS Apache, 1 TVS Raider, 1 TVS Scooty, and 3 Glamor motorcycles, of which 4 are from Dambuk area of Lower Dibang. Exported from 1 from Wadi district, Anini, 9 from Mudoi area of Changlang district, and 12 from areas under Chongkham police station of Namsai district.
All the exported two-wheeler engines and chassis numbers are being sent to all districts of Arunachal Pradesh as well as neighboring states, Thongon said.
Earlier, increasing cases of unsolved motorcycle thefts prompted the Namsai police to form a SIT headed by SDPO Namsai Chera Saban under the supervision of SP Thongon. The SIT team members included investigating officers in the pending MV theft cases, including Inspector Taban Padung, Inspector AK Pandey, SIB Kathak, SI C.S. Kamhoo, ASIR Noroh, and SI T. Ponglaham included.
The team then started questioning all former history-sheeters and visited all the two-wheeler garages in the district as well as the states bordering Assam, but so far met with little success.
