Maruti Eeco Silencer Stealing Gang Got Arrested from Thane
Maruti Eeco Silencer Stealing Gang
You might have heard some reports of the Maruti Suzuki Eeco silencer stealing gang. The thieves were stealing the silencers because of the Palladium dust that is found inside. That gang was arrested from Mota Varachha. However, there were still some gangs that were doing the same thing. Now, another gang has been arrested from Thane who was involved in a similar theft.
Kalwa police arrested four gang members that belonged to Kurla. They were arrested on Friday and they operated in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Pune Rural. The gang included Samashuddin Khan (22), Samashuddin Shah (21), Saddam Khan (26) and Nadeem Qureshi aka Nepali (21). Saddam was the leader of the gang and he used to plan all the thefts. The gang confessed that they have stolen over 25 silencers.
Police have seized 25 silencers that were worth Rs. 6.5 lakhs. The price of a single silencer is around Rs. 70,000. Roshni Raut from Kharegaon, Thane filed a complaint because a silencer from her Maruti Suzuki Eeco was stolen. The FIR was filed on June 6th and the theft itself happened in her residential building. Fortunately, police found CCTV footage which revealed that thieves came from Kurla. Then police setup a trap in Kapadiyanagar and arrested the gang.
Stealing silencers for Platinum
Avinash Ambure, DCP (zone 1) said, “We were startled at first wondering why the accused were stealing just the silencer and not the whole car. When the team arrested them and started interrogation, we came to know that they were behind the 10 to 15-gram platinum applied inside the silencer. They would remove the platinum metal in a workshop in Kurla, realign the silencer and sell it in the market”
Platinum is used in the catalytic converters of silencers. The job of catalytic converters is to convert the toxic exhaust gases into less harmful gasses before releasing them into the atmosphere. The process of conversion requires many precious materials like Palladium, Rhodium and Platinum. All these metals are more expensive than gold.
“The accused would take out nearly 10-12 grams platinum and sell it in the market. The price of platinum was Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3,500 per gram. After the platinum was removed, it was given to the absconding accused who would sell it. To whom it was sold will be revealed after his arrest. Then the silencers were sold as brand new for Rs. 10,000″ said, Avinash Ambure
Why Maruti Suzuki Eeco?
A senior police officer said, “They had a specific interest in stealing silencers of Eeco vehicles due to its fitting and easy to detach and extract the precious metal dust from the silencer.” Eeco was often targeted by other gang members also for the same reason. It has a fairly good ground clearance so a person can easily get below without much hassle. Removing the exhaust pipe is also an easy job as it just requires few bolts and you can get the exhaust pipe out.
