At least 23 thefts have been registered by the Thane rural police this year alone, accounting for over Rs 4 crore in medical supplies. The drugs, mainly from godowns in Bhandup and Bhiwandi, are then illegally sold in the open market in Mumbai, Rewas, Agra and Delhi.

Dacoities of this nature accounted for six of the nine thefts on the Ahmedabad highway, four of the five in Sindhudurg, three on the Mumbai-Pune highway, four on the Valsad route and six on the Mumbai-Nashik highway.

Explaining the modus operandi, Superintendent of Police, Thane (rural), Param Bir Singh says the thieves tail the trucks before waylaying them at deserted spots afterdarkness falls. They are often accompanied by a chemist, who identifies the expensive drugs. The truck is then abandoned on the highway. He says the thieves usually work in groups of five to six with each gang delineating their turf.

The drugs and formulations targeted are ampoules of Supacete, ampoules and tablets of Betnasol, Zukes and Caplin injections, Betnovate ointment and Vitnoruin forte including the not-so-expensive Corex syrup.

Inspector General of Police, Nashik range, B T Nhinglova, had convened a meeting of representatives of reputed pharmaceutical companies last month and had instructed them to transport their drugs in convoys of trucks instead of dispatching the vehilces alone. However, police say the companies are not bothered as the merchandise is insured against theft.

The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had made an effort to coordinate between various inspectors general of police including B T Nhinglova of Nashik and T Wankhede of the Thane range and superintendents ofpolice to organise crackdowns on the dacoits.

``We have managed to arrest some of the thieves but they turned out to be mere foot-soldiers, who were paid Rs 5,000 per truck. The masterminds have eluded us so far,'' Singh says.

According to the senior police officers, the stolen medicines are sold in the open market in Mumbai, Agra, Revas and Delhi. In fact, the business of dealing in stolen medicines is so lucrative that even hardcore gangsters have begun to dabble in it.

The Manikpur police had recently arrested six gangsters including their ringleader, Jaspal Singh, in connection with other crimes. During interrogation, Jaspal claimed to be from the Abu Salem gang and admitted to killing two persons at Salem's behest in January last year. Jaspal said he had shifted to robbing trucks carrying medicines since then.