Highway robbers loot pipes worth Rs 10 lakh

NELLORE: Reigning terror on the national highway in Nellore district on Wednesday, a group of highway robbers attacked a lorry laden with iron pipes and escaped with the vehicle near Tada. This is the second such incident in the area within the last two days.
Earlier on Tuesday, highway robbers tied up the driver and cleaner of a lorry before escaping with the vehicle carrying a consignment of chocolates.They even took away the lorry owner along with them. But even before police could locate the lorry and its owner, robbers struck for the second consecutive day on the highway. Sources estimated the worth of the looted iron pipes in the lorry at about Rs 10 lakh.
The robbers came in a car and intercepted the lorry at Ramapuram village in Tada mandal and forced its driver Venkatesh and spare driver Naga Raju to get down. The miscreants then beat them up and bundled them into their car. They detained the duo in a mechanic shed and took them to a forest area near Satyavedu in Chittoor district where they freed them.
The drivers reached Tada police station and lodged a complaint. Police suspect that a team of 10-15 inter-state robbers are moving in the area and resorting to crimes on the Kolkata-Chennai national highway in Nellore district. Police are gathering information on similar crimes on national highways as they suspect that robbers’ gangs migrate to new places to escape the police net. The lorry with iron pipes was proceeding to Chennai from Kolkata.
Gudur DSP Srinivas reached Tada station and took up the investigation. Nellore SP Senthil Kumar formed special teams in Gudur sub-division for night patrolling. Kumar also spoke to the SPs of neighbouring districts and sought their cooperation in nabbing the highway robbers.