Interstate two-wheeler theft gang arrested

Bapatla: The Bapatla district police have arrested an interstate gang involved in two-wheeler thefts and recovered 36 motorcycles valued at approximately Rs 25 lakh.

The gang was operating across multiple districts including Bapatla, Guntur, Nellore, Prakasam, Kurnool and Krishna, as well as in Telangana State, with a total of 17 cases registered against them.

District SP Tushar Dudi commended the Repalle Sub-Division police officers and staff for their swift action in apprehending the gang and recovering the stolen vehicles.

Speaking to the media at Bhattiprolu Police Station on Thursday, Repalle DSP Avula Srinivasarao said that they received a complaint of a motorcycle theft recently.

He said that following SP Tushar Dudi’s directive to treat two-wheeler theft cases as a priority, special teams were formed with Vemuru CI Pasupaleti Veeranjaneyulu, Repalle Rural CI Suresh Babu, and Bhattiprolu and Cherukupalli SIs Shivayya and Anil Kumar. He said that using CCTV footage and technical surveillance, the teams apprehended the interstate gang of three persons, Putta Sivasankar of Tenali, Peta Nagababu of Kanagala in Cherukupalli mandal and Deepala Teja Venkata Siva Naga Vijay Kumar of Ailavaram in Bhattiprolu mandal, on Wednesday.

The DSP said that the accused had stolen 5 motorcycles from Bapatla district, 4 from Guntur, 5 from Nellore, 6 from Prakasam, 10 from Krishna, 1 from Kurnool, 2 from East Godavari and 3 from Telangana State.

The DSP explained that the main accused, Putta Sivasankar, worked as an auto driver and was addicted to bad habits. He said that seeking easy money, Sivasankar began stealing motorcycles from railway stations, bus stands, and movie theatres using a duplicate key.

He said that the other two accused, Nagababu and Vijay Kumar are his accomplices, who helped him hide the stolen vehicles. SP Tushar Dudi specially commended the Repalle DSP, CIs of Vemuru and Repalle Rural, SIs of Bhattiprolu and Cherukupalli, and their staff for their excellent work in using technical expertise to arrest the interstate gang and recover 36 two-wheelers worth Rs 25 lakh.