Jan 16 cash van heist: Four arrested for ‘looting’ Rs 1.95 crore

The Mumbai Police Crime Branch have arrested the four men who were accused in the January 16 heist in Khar in which Rs 1.95 crore was stolen from a security agency van. The police said the accused were arrested in a joint operation by the Mumbai crime branch and the Punjab police. On January 16, the van was ferrying cash to be filled into Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the western suburbs. Sadr-e-Alam, a security guard with the agency, was on board the vehicle along with the driver and two other guards.

The police said that when they stopped for a tea break in Worli, Alam allegedly spiked the two guards’ tea and they lost consciousness. Meanwhile, his three accomplices were lying in wait at the Milan Subway in Khar where they intercepted the van, after which they robbed the cash and fled the scene. “We had a tip-off about the whereabouts of the accused. A team was sent to Patiala on January 19, working in collaboration with the Punjab police’s special task force,” the police said.