Ex-Army Man Rides Scooty Into Telangana Cantonment, Pulls Off Arms Heist

In a heist straight out of a Bollywood movie, a dismissed Army Havildar allegedly rode into a high-security cantonment area on a scooty, broke open the armoury and rode out with a cache of military-grade weapons in Secunderabad last month, a joint operation by Military Intelligence of the Southern Command and the Telangana Police has found.

The incident happened at the 20th Madras Regiment in Secunderabad's Bolarum. Sources said the accused, an ex-havildar dismissed from service on June 30, carried out the theft over the weekend of August 29 and August 30, when the entire battalion, including its commanding officer, was away at Pokhran for field firing.

Investigators said he first snapped the armoury lock on the night of August 29, pulled out 12 weapons, including AK assault rifles, INSAS rifles and ammunition, and hid them in the thick foliage outside under the disguise of being from the same regiment.

He then loaded the stolen arsenal onto his Activa and rode home. The next morning, in a bid to cover his tracks, he stuffed the cache into his car, avoided highways, and dumped and buried it in Nagarkurnool district.

The accused precisely planned the whole operation. He deliberately chose the night of August 29 and 30, knowing the armoury stock would not be checked over the weekend. That calculated 48-hour window, he believed, would give him ample time to spirit away the stolen arsenal and stash it at a safe location before anyone noticed it was missing.

The theft was detected only during an inventory on August 31. An FIR for night house-breaking and theft of government property was filed later.

After questioning over 70 suspects with no lead, the joint probe team shifted focus to recently retired personnel. Mobile tower location, CCTV footage, and land digital footprints led them to the ex-serviceman.

Following interrogation, he confessed that he held a grudge against his commanding officer for denying him a three-year service extension due to his conduct.

Investigators, however, did not buy the story. Six to seven serving Army officials are now under scanner, and three persons are already in custody. Officials suspect insider connivance was crucial.

"Without insider help, a retired man cannot walk into an ammunition store on a scooty and walk out with 12 rifles. The grudge angle looks cooked up to shield others," a senior investigator said.

Security agencies believe there is far more to this than meets the eye. The sheer scale of the theft, 12 military-grade assault rifles with ammunition, has set off alarm bells. Investigators now suspect the cache was not meant to settle a personal grudge but was intended to be handed over to anti-national elements.

The stolen weapons have been recovered, and investigators said further probe is underway.