The Thane police were looking for the gang ever since it stole brass ingots — the factory used to import metal scrap and recycle it to produce alloys and pure metal — worth Rs 22 lakh from Agni Industries in Wada taluka on November 30, 2007. Around 15-20 armed dacoits overpowered the two watchmen and 9 workers who were present in the factory at the time of incident and looted 14 tons of brass ingots. The ingots were taken away in a truck brought in by the dacoits.

“The gang had carried out similar dacoities in other regions of Maharashtra and neighbouring states. Initial investigations reveal that the gang was involved in number of organised thefts, so they will be booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA),” Bajaj said.

This was the first time that the gang had managed to loot ingots in Thane district and as it was a big dacoity, police had put all their efforts in nabbing this gang. A team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Ganeshpuri) Rashmi Karandikar, several police officers and constables from Ganeshpuri, Bhiwandi and Wada went in search for clues. “We went backwards. We tried to find out where the gang could have sold such a huge amount of metal,” Bajaj said. The police have recovered 3.50 tones of brass ingots from the arrested accused. About 10 tons remains to be recovered.