THRISSUR: The Thrissur city police, with the support of the Special Action Group against Organised Crimes (SAGOC) team, on Sunday arrested five accused in the highway gold heist case.
The arrested are Roshan Varghese, 29, and Shijo Varghese, 23, both from Tiruvalla, Siddique, 26, of S N Puram, Nishanth, 24, of Nellayi, and Nikhil Nath, 36, of Kaippamangalam.
The incident happened on September 25 at Kallidukku near Mannuthy on NH 544. While gold jewellery dealer Arun Sunny, accompanied by his assistant, was coming to Thrissur with finished gold products, a large group in three cars blocked his way.
After barging into the car, Arun was forcibly shifted to another of the gang’s cars while his car was taken away by them for the gold, he said in his complaint. In the other car, Arun was beaten up and threatened with dire consequences if he didn’t reveal where the gold was kept in the car.
Later, as they got the information they wanted, the accused dropped him on the roadside near Puthur and his assistant at Marathakkara.
The movie-style gold robbery happened in broad daylight. The CCTV footage collected from a private bus helped the police identify the accused persons. Three cars they used for the crime carried fake number plates. The robbed gold is worth Rs 2.5 crore in the market, the police said.
Police took Siddique, Nishanth, and Nikhil into custody from Kuthiran on September 27 at 3.30am during highway patrol. On interrogation, the trio revealed the details about the rest of the gang members, which led to the arrest of Roshan and Shijo.
The investigators suspect Roshan, the first accused in the case, to be the brain behind the highway heist.