5 car thieves selling stolen cars on Facebook arrested

Dimapur, September 6 : Kohima police have arrested five persons on charges of selling stolen vehicles on social networking site Facebook. The capital’s police issued a press release on Tuesday to offer updates on said case.

The five accused persons have been identified to be Kitolu Achumi, a 20-year old from Shevishe village; Hotokhu Assumi, a 27-year old from Suhoi village; Anam Ali, a 23-year old from Hojai in Assam; Thomas Singh, a 23-year old from Wangoi village in Manipur; Bokugha Zhimo, a 21-year old from Chekiye village.

The police said to have received information that stolen vehicles were being sold online on a Facebook shopping group.
The authorities said to have deployed decoys to make contact with the gang dealing with the stolen vehicles.

The press release stated: “After gaining the trust of the gang by the source, officers from North PS initiated move to purchase the stolen vehicle (Maruti Swift Dzire) as prospective customers and contacted the gang through the source.

Negotiation for the price of the stolen vehicle was made over a period of several days during which the decoy customer was under the scanner of the gang for any foul play and after the price was negotiated, the decoy customer lured the gang members to bring the vehicle mid way between Kohima and Dimapur.”

On September 5, officers from north police station consisting of a “cut-off team,” a quick-response team and a “decoy customer team” were deployed at Piphema where the transaction was to take place.

“Three gang members pulled up in a Santro Zing (black color) B/R No. NL07-3295, after making sure that it was safe, they made a call and two gang members arrived at the spot with the stolen vehicle Maruti Swift Dzire (silver color) B/R No. NL06-2432. Officers disguised as prospective customer took the Swift Dezire for test drive along with one of the gang members and the other four were surrounded and apprehended by the cut-off team and quick response team,” the police said.
The five individuals and the seized vehicles were brought to north police station.
The Maruti Swift Dzire had the registration number NL06-4632, chassis number MA3FJEB1S00680753, and engine number D13A2525400, the police stated. It was stated to have been involved in a vehicle theft case in Assam.