ATM heists: Tirupati police bust Haryana-based Mewat gang

Tirupati: The police here have apprehended a notorious gang of burglars responsible for several ATM heists across multiple states.

The gang, hailing from Haryana's Mewat region, had organised, latest, a heist at an SBI ATM in Tirupati's Dhanalakshmi Nagar, and escaped with '18,26,500.

Two teams — one led by CI Subramaniam Reddy that went to Delhi and Haryana and another by Chandragiri CI Raja Sekhar to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka – did the investigations outside the state.

SP Parameswara Reddy said investigations confirmed that the crime was perpetrated by a gang from Mewat, Haryana. It was notorious for many ATM thefts in several states. The Tirupati police used its informants to keep tabs on the gang’s activities.

SP Reddy said the Tirupati rural police arrested six members of the gang -- Saddam Khan (A1), Waseem (A4), Arshad Khan (A5), Mur Salim (A6), Irshad Khan (A7) and Naseeruddin (A8), from different locations in the city on Thursday.

The police recovered stolen property, including cash worth '2,00,000, an EECO car, two trucks, 21 kg of ganja, two country guns, a gas gun, a gas cylinder and an oxygen cylinder. Two gang members, Rahadi Saddam (A2) and Aamir Khan (A3), escaped the police dragnet.

“The gang travels in a lorry from the north to the southern states, targeting ATMs and looting them within minutes. They stole vehicles for their operations and would later abandon them.

In the latest instance, the gang stole a car from Tiruvallur, used it for the Tirupati heist and abandoned it in Kadapa. They complete the heist in 5 to 10 minutes,” police said.

Rahadi has 19 pending cases in multiple states, and Saddam Khan 23 cases against him. The gang's kingpin, Saddam Khan has been arrested. The arrested were involved in ATM robberies in Vizianagaram, Chintamani, Chikmagalur and Tumkur. Investigations showed their involvement in drug trafficking. They procured ganja from the southern states at a lower rate and sold it at a higher price in areas around the national capital.