Two held for stealing laptops on AC buses

The Matunga police on Monday arrested two Meerut-based laptop thieves, who travelled on MSRTC’s air-conditioned Dadar-Pune Shivneri buses and stole fellow passengers’ laptops.

“The arrested accused have been identified as Mohammed Aslam Ahmed, 36, and Mohammed Imran Ayub, 24. We have recovered six stolen laptops from them, collectively valued at Rs2.25 lakh. With the arrest of the two, the police have succeeded in detecting six cases of laptop thefts out of the 10 registered at the Matunga police station this year,” said senior inspector Suresh Parab. The duo was remanded in police custody till May 20 by the Kurla metropolitan magistrate’s court.

Meanwhile, a manhunt has been launched to nab their gang leader. Describing their modus operandi, Parab said: “The men would go through their fellow passengers’ bags either when they fell asleep or when they got down at food malls on the expressway. If they found laptops, they would immediately put them into their shoulder bags. They sold the laptops at Mumbai’s Chor Bazar.”

The racket came to light on Monday when assistant police inspector Srikant Ramdas was checking the bags of passengers alighting from the Pune-Dadar Shivneri bus at Dadar.  During the checking, Ramdas found Aslam carrying a laptop in his shoulder bag. He was asked to start the laptop but was unable to do so. He said it belonged to his friend, Imran. Imran was called, but he, too, was unable to start it.

The duo then confessed they had stolen the laptop. A woman who had lodged a complaint of laptop theft in Khopoli was called. She came to Matunga and identified her laptop.