Police informed today that it has arrested three members of a gang that would allegedly target truck drivers in order to swindle money out of their employers.
Superintendent of Police Vivek Syiem said that information had been received about a gang that would lure truck drivers and convince their employers that they could obtain vegetables at a lower rate.
The gang members would then take the driver near the Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) or Umiam, ostensibly to load the vegetables but would then abduct him and take him to an isolated place, such as a jungle.
There, they would allegedly force the driver to tell the employer that the vegetables had been loaded in order for the latter to transfer payment to the gang.
With the help of members of associations of traders and suppliers, a special cell from East Khasi Hills conducted an operation on November 6 and arrested three suspects at Mawlai Bypass. The gang members had just taken a driver from Lad Smit and had forced him to call his employer to pay up.
The gang had apparently committed this crime several times. A case in this particular instance has been registered at Madanrting police station, though other FIRs have been filed before by other victims.
The special cell remains on the hunt for the rest of the gang members, Syiem informed, adding that four mobile phones and a Maruti Swift Dzire car were seized from them.
