HYDERABAD: A container truck full of cigarettes worth `4 crore was robbed by a group of armed men at Abdullapurmet in the wee hours of Sunday. The vehicle was on its way from Hyderabad to Tirupati. The robbers allegedly tied the driver’s legs and took him to city outskirts in another vehicle. After shifting the cigarettes to another container, they fled.
The driver, Akhilesh Yadav Kumar (27) of Khakhanguda in Bihar, had been working with Coastal Road Lines for six months. His job was to transport cigarettes from ITC Ltd in Hyderabad to other places.
Close to 10.30pm on Saturday, police said Akhilesh loaded cigarettes worth `4 crore in a container lorry headed for Tirupati. He was assisted by one Ramu, an ITC employee.
Hayathnagar police inspector J Narender Goud said Ramu accompanied Akhilesh till Uppal. Akhilesh proceeded onto Outer Ring Road from Peddamberpet where he noticed two jeeps and one lorry, tailing him. “Around 30 persons followed the container for half an hour. After they reached an isolated area, one jeep intercepted the container. The gang threatened Akhilesh with weapons and one member took over the wheel and drove the vehicle towards Choutuppal.
Akhilesh was tied up and taken way in another vehicle. “Akhilesh claimed to have been taken to a forest area where eight members of the gang stayed for an hour before fleeing. He managed to reach the main road and then a roadside hotel with the help of some people and contacted the police. Police teams rushed to the spot and found the empty contained abandoned near Choutuppal,” said the inspector. Police said the truck was later spotted near Nizamabad and the Madhya Pradesh-based Kangar gang was involved in the robbery.
A case has been booked under Section 395 of IPC and nine special teams have been formed to track down the gang.
Not a rare crime
A cigarette container truck from ITC in Sholapur of Maharashtra was hijacked by six in June 2015. Cigarettes worth J3.28 crore were stolen. The gang was caught by Hyderabad police.
A gang of six stole cigarettes worth L6 crore from a container truck along the Anakapalle-Anandapuram highway in Vishakapatanam in November 2016. ITC cigarettes worth J5cr were stolen from a container travelling from Mumbai to Pune in January 2017. Mumbai police arrested three people.