Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Oct 9: In a major breakthrough, the Suratkal police arrested a notorious inter-state vehicle thief from Kerala who was involved in the theft of a pickup vehicle in the Suratkal police limits and a motorcycle in the Mangaluru South police limits. The stolen pickup and bike have been recovered.

The arrested accused has been identified as Hamza Kuppikanda alias Hamsa alias Hamza Ponnan (29), a resident of Rathikkal, Varkala village in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

According to police reports, on September 30, a pickup vehicle parked in the premises of Sukumar’s house at Kulai was stolen during the night. A complaint in this regard was registered at the Suratkal police station on October 3. While investigating the case, the police intercepted a youth riding a motorcycle suspiciously on Tuesday. Upon questioning, he failed to produce any documents related to the vehicle. Further investigation revealed that the bike had been stolen from near Forum Mall under the Mangaluru South police limits.

During interrogation, the accused also confessed to stealing the pickup vehicle from Kulai. The total worth of the recovered vehicles is estimated to be around Rs 3.10 lac.

Police sources revealed that the accused, Hamza Kuppikanda, is a habitual offender with around 17 theft cases— including mobile and vehicle theft—registered against him in various districts of Kerala.

The accused was produced before the court, which has remanded him to judicial custody.

The operation was conducted under the guidance of Suratkal police inspector Pramod Kumar, with PSI Shashidhar Shetty, ASI Rajesh Alva, and police personnel Umesh, Vinod Kumar, Nagaraj, and Sunil Kumar forming part of the investigation team.