New Delhi, May 24 (PTI) Three men were arrested for allegedly looting 30 cartons of imported cigarettes worth about Rs 27 lakh from a delivery van in north Delhi's Timarpur area, police said on Wednesday.

The police have recovered 27 cartons, one car, a two-wheeler and the van from Mohammad Akbar (34) of Kadipur, Rizwan Ali (24) of Jahangirpuri and Naseem (35) of Narela, they said.

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Around 12.30 pm on Monday, logistics company delivery driver Pradeep Kumar took the consignment in his van from a warehouse in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad to deliver it in Delhi's Vijay Nagar, the police said.

He was intercepted at Signature Bridge by three men who began to argue with Kumar claiming that the van had hit their car, the police said.

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They forcibly took the keys of the van and forced Kumar to get in their car while one of them fled with the van. Kumar, whose mobile phone was also taken from him, was thrown out of the car in Narela, they said.

During investigations, the car was found registered in the name of Akbar. He was arrested and, based on his statement, Rizwan was apprehended. The cigarette cartons were recovered from them along with the car and a two-wheeler, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

It was found that Akbar was involved in many cases of cargo theft from moving trains. He was arrested for cigarette thefts as well.

After coming out of jail, he was in search of cigarette godowns or vehicles transporting consignments, Kalsi said.

Having located the Ghaziabad warehouse, he raised a group of criminals and assigned them specific tasks. Akbar mortgaged his wife's jewellery and distributed the money among the gang members before the disposal of the shipment to silence them, the police said.

Later, Naseem was apprehended from Narela, they added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)