Team Goemkarponn
COLVALE: In a late-night operation, Colvale police foiled an interstate car theft racket with the arrest of two accused and the recovery of two luxury vehicles worth over ₹50 lakh.
Acting on a tip-off about suspicious movement of non-locals in the hilly area of Amyani, Thivim, a team led by PI Sanjit Kandolkar, along with PSI Rohan Madgaonkar, PSI Swanand Prabhu and other staff, combed the area and intercepted two Toyota Fortuner SUVs bearing suspicious number plates.
Two men were caught tampering with the vehicles to alter their appearance. On inspection, police found that they were carrying multiple fake identity documents, including three Aadhaar cards, four voter ID cards and four driving licences. The accused were identified as Deep Aghera (28) of Gujarat and Harpreet Singh (40) of Patiala, Punjab.
The duo was also found in possession of a GPS tracker jammer, which they had already used to disable the original trackers of the vehicles. Verification revealed that the Fortuners’ original registrations were GA 07 N 2259 and GA 05 F 6888, with a combined value of ₹50.87 lakh.
Investigations revealed that the accused would enter Goa posing as tourists, hire high-end cars from rental agencies using fake IDs, deactivate the GPS trackers using jammers, replace the registration plates with those of other states, and drive the stolen vehicles across borders to Gujarat, where they would be sold.
Police sources confirmed that the accused had earlier been involved in a similar case registered at Mapusa Police Station and were targeting private rental cars.
An FIR has been registered, and both accused have been remanded to five days’ police custody by JMFC Bicholim. The case is being investigated by PSI Swanand Prabhu under the supervision of SP North Rahul Gupta and SDPO Mapusa Wilson De’souza.
