Mumbai: Porter app used to move stolen Metro scrap around

The Trombay police have arrested five people and detained a minor for using the lsquoPorter apprsquo to commit theft of scrap from the Metro site in MankhurdPolice said the accused were using the app to transport stolen scrap material from the underconstruction metro site to a scrap dealer On checking the app installed on their cell phones the cops discovered that they had used it more than 45 times for such bookings The police have seized scrap and a tempomdashworth Rs 1786 lakh in totalmdashand have also arrested the scrap dealer who purchased the stolen materialShiva Bansraj Mantal Vasiullah Sanaullah Khan Rashid Latif Qureshi Shabbar Ajmeri Shaikh Wahid Mehboob KhanAccording to the police a case was registered on February 14 after a complaint by the metro site security supervisor Gajendra Kadam The complaint states that around 1568 kg of scrap was stolen from the site near Maharashtra Nagar in Mankhurd ldquoWe registered a case against unknown persons and began the investigation under the supervision of Senior Police Inspector Rajesh Shinderdquo a police officer saidThe detection team of Trombay police which was investigating the case got a lead about a tempo passing through the location ldquoOur team reached the said spot and found a tempo filled with stolen scrap material and detained four people It then came to light that they were using the Porter app to book tempos The booking was done by one of the accused but he was not ready to reveal much We checked his cell phone and with the help of the app administrator obtained details of their bookingsrdquo a police officer said adding that most of the bookings were for pickup from Maharashtra Nagar for delivery to a scrap dealer in Mandala MankhurdA booking made on the Porter appThe police then identified and arrested the scrap dealer The five accused have been identified as Wahid Mehboob Khan 35 Shabbar Ajmeri Shaikh 31 Vasiullah Sanaullah Khan 46 Shiva Bansraj Mantal 29 Rashid Latif Qureshi 29 A minor has also been detained ldquoAll of them have criminal records for housebreaking and theft We also contacted porter drivers who attended to their bookings over the last few days who claimed they were suspicious about the pickups after they were offered double the set amount for transportrdquo said Bhausaheb Malvadkar police subinspector Trombay police station According to Malvadkar the accused used the app to avoid suspicion by getting a different vehicle and driver for consignments ldquoWhenever a driver got suspicious and asked them to cancel the booking they would ask the driver to cancel it instead However if the drivers cancel the booking they are suspended for a week and so they would complyrdquoMalvadkar added ldquoWe have also seized more than 700 kg of scrap from the scrap dealer The accused would commit the theft at night to avoid inconvenience We suspect they have been doing this for more than two months Each one had a specific task from booking a tempo to loading ithellip checking if the route is clear and striking a deal with the scrap buyerrdquo