Malad man arrested for daring robbery of Rs 66 lakh valuables on Gujarat ST bus

MUMBAI: Five months after a gang of robbers had robbed valuables worth at least Rs 66 lakh on a state bus in Gujarat, one of the alleged robbers, Suresh Sawant alias Pravin alias Bandya, was arrested from

Andheri

(east). A team of the Mumbai police crime branch which was led by inspector Arun Pokharkar arrested Sawant, a

Malad

resident.


The police said that the gang had prior knowledge that a group of angadiyas, or men used to courier valuables, was to board the bus with valuables. They had robbed the angadiyas of diamond, gold and cash valued at Rs 66 lakh. The robbery had taken place at a desolate stretch along the Mehsana-Ahmedabad highway on December 6.

The robbers were armed with choppers and fire arms, said the police. When the bus crossed Mehsana highway, the robbers got up from their seats, threatened the driver at gunpoint and asked him to halt the bus. They threatened the passengers to stay quiet as they approached the angadiyas and snatched their parcels containing jewellery and cash. They fled in a car in which their aides had been following the bus. The car was later found abandoned near Kheralu.