Gang that robbed cash van from Crossings Republik tracked it for 6 months, 2 held

Ghaziabad: Two men were arrested on Monday in connection with last week’s cash van robbery in Crossings Republik. The accused, police said, surveilled the vehicle for six months and rehearsed the heist four times before striking.The robbery took place around 1 pm on May 6, when a team from India-1, a financial services firm, stopped near an HP petrol pump on NH-9 to replenish an ATM. Minutes after the cashiers and gunman stepped out to load cash into the kiosk, three men approached the parked van, pointed weapons at the driver — the only person inside at that point — and ordered him to open the gate. When the driver refused, one of the men fired in the air. The gang eventually overpowered the driver, threw him to the ground and drove off with the van and nearly Rs 27 lakh it was carrying.The empty vehicle was found abandoned near Masuri police station on the DME, about 10 kilometres from the crime spot. An FIR was registered late on Wednesday night against unknown persons under BNS Section 309(4) (robbery) at Crossings Republik police station, on a complaint filed by India-1 employee Rajneesh Tripathi. Section 310 (dacoity) was added after the accused were identified.The breakthrough in the case came after a painstaking review of over 300 CCTV feeds. Cops scanning the footage zeroed in on a silver Baleno car (UP16CC1817) that was tailing the cash van after it was robbed. The car, it later emerged, belonged to the gang’s mastermind, Zubair, originally from Muzaffarnagar, who relocated to Ghaziabad with his family about 15 years ago.With the arrest of Mohammad Kaif (23) and Mohammad Rizwan (20), from Chipiyana underpass in Crossings Republik, police uncovered a meticulously planned operation. According to a senior police officer, the gang conducted four rehearsals at the exact location on NH-9 where the cash van was usually parked, timing how many minutes it would take to loot the cash, calculating the resources required and mapping the escape route to the minute. CCTV footage also revealed that three members of the gang were spotted near the van as early as April 4, more than a month before the robbery.DCP (city) Dhawal Jaiswal said interrogation of Kaif and Rizwan revealed that six persons were involved in the robbery. Rizwan’s role was reconnaissance, police said. He tracked the cash van for six months, following it on multiple occasions before the gang was able to execute the plan.On the day of the robbery, the gang arrived roughly two hours before the van, driving an unnumbered Baleno to avoid identification. Once the driver was alone in the vehicle, they moved. “Taking advantage of this opportunity, upon seeing the driver alone, they opened fire with illegal weapons, pushed the driver out and fled with the cash van towards Meerut on DME,” Jaiswal said.Inside the van, the gang smashed all the CCTV cameras using an axe they found on board, broke open the cash locker with the same axe and took the money along with the DVR before abandoning the vehicle on the expressway and switching back to the Baleno.To evade detection, they drove through Modinagar, Muradnagar, Bhojpur Cut and Kanwar Marg. En route, the gang affixed a number plate and fitted wheel covers to alter the vehicle’s appearance, but the numberless Baleno was already captured on DME cameras before the switch.The accused told cops that the cash was divided at a house in Dasna Masuri. Kaif received Rs 4 lakh, Rizwan Rs 5 lakh, and the remaining amount was split among the four others. So far, Rs 8 lakh in cash, a Scorpio and illegal weapons have been recovered from the two arrested. Police said all the accused are related to Zubair, described as the mastermind.Police said efforts to nab the remaining four, including Zubair, are ongoing. The police commissioner announced a reward of Rs 25,000 each for identifying the accused.