The truck that was stolen and later seized by the police. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri, July 3: Pradhannagar police last night found a truck, which had been stolen from Siliguri, at Kalchini in the Alipurduar subdivision and picked up two persons suspected to be members of an inter-state racket.

The truck had been stolen from Darjeeling More here on June 29 while it parked was by NH55. The owner of the vehicle, Kamalesh Prasad Rai, a resident of Patna, had lodged a complaint with the Pradhannagar police the next day.

“After receiving the complaint, we launched an investigation and informed all other police stations in the region about the incident. We had also sent them the details of the vehicle,” said Swapan Ghosh, the inspector-in-charge of the Pradhannagar police station.

In the course of the probe, the police came to know about a gang involved in lifting vehicles and selling them in the north-eastern states.

“Our source told us that the gang-members had taken the truck somewhere in the Dooars and were planning to smuggle it into Bhutan or any north-eastern state,” said the police officer.

On the basis of the information, the police conducted a raid at Kalchini, 140km from Siliguri town, and took into custody the two men and seized the truck.

The arrested are Prem Lama and Khailendra Narjinari, both residents of Jaigaon. The police said the duo had admitted to stealing the vehicle from Siliguri and trying to sell it.

“During interrogation, the arrested men spilled the beans on a gang, to which they belonged, operating across many states and involved in vehicle thefts. The duo disclosed the names of their accomplices and we have contacted the Kalchini and Jaigaon police to know more about them,” said Ghosh.