Mumbai Crime: Residents left furious, as car thieves strike fast

Palghar district seems to have become the new target for car thieves In the past six months more than 60 cars including luxury vehicles such as a Toyota Innova have been stolen from here The thieves who are untraced so far use a trick that could only make Fast and Furious character Dominic Toretto proud They spray the lenses of CCTVs with black paintbefore they conduct their heistsMost of these car thefts have occurred in Vasai Nalasopara and Virar Last week locals claimed that there were complaints of around 5 to 6 Innova car thefts lodged with the Manikpur police stationPaint on CCTVAccording to police sources the gang allegedly casually roam in a vehicle hunting for cars that they could steal One of the members carefully scans the area for CCTV cameras around the spot and upon finding any sprays black paint on its lens The perpetrator also covers his face with an umbrellaThe other gang members then use a master key and immediately flee with the carldquoMy Innova was parked in front of my house On the morning of November 19 I saw found out it went missing When I went to check the CCTV camera for footage I found the lens was painted black In the CCTV of a building nearby I saw a white Swift car arriving around 4 am A person who concealed his face with an umbrella stepped out of the vehicle and sprayed paint on the CCTV camera lens that was facing my car After five minutes the men fled with my carrdquo said Chandrakant Mishra 52 a resident of Sainagar Vasai WestWhen he went to Manickpur police station to lodge a complaint he found that another Innova had been stolen from a nearby societyDozens of cars stolenWhen Mishra took to a social media site to talk about his loss people contacted him saying that dozens of cars were stolen in Nalasopara Naigaon Vasai and Virar A police official investigating the case said around 60 cars most of them Innovas have been stolen in the past five to six months from Palghar districtAnother resident of Sainagar Bharat Patel 39 had gone to Surat during Diwali when his car was stolen Patel said ldquoMy car was stolen on November 19 from near my buildingrdquoA CCTV camera footage in the area has recorded the theft of his car Police said the same accused who stole Mishrarsquos car are seen arriving in the white Swift and fleeing with the car However so far the police are clueless about the accused and the carsStolen for electionsldquoCar thefts are reported more during the election period when there is a huge demand for vehicles for publicity campaigns Interstate car theft gangs become active and steal vehicles across India and sell them using fake documents and number platesrdquo said a police officialldquoIt is true that for the past couple of months there has been an increase in vehicle theftsrdquo said Gaurav Singh Palghar district SP A special team has been formed to trace the accused he addedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever