Pune: Rs 8.57 Lakh Cigarette Burglary in Wagholi Solved After 115 CCTV Cameras Tracked
Wagholi, 29th August 2026: The Pune Crime Branch has arrested three men from Thane district in connection with the burglary of a warehouse in Wagholi and recovered stolen cigarettes worth ₹2 lakh, police said.
The case was registered at Wagholi Police Station under Sections 331(3), 331(4) and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. According to police, unidentified burglars broke open the shutter of the Aryan Plastics warehouse at Wagholi Gaothan on August 18 and stole cigarette cartons valued at ₹8,57,290. A complaint was lodged on August 19.
Acting on the instructions of senior officers, personnel from the Anti-Dacoity and Vehicle Theft Squad-2 of the Pune Crime Branch launched a parallel investigation. Assistant Police Inspector Mohsin Pathan and his team examined CCTV footage from the area surrounding the warehouse and spotted the suspects arriving in an Ertiga car. The suspects were allegedly seen leaving with the stolen goods after committing the burglary.
Investigators subsequently examined footage from around 115 CCTV cameras across Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The footage indicated that the suspects had travelled towards Thane via the Pune-Mumbai Expressway. Further examination of footage from toll plazas along the expressway showed the vehicle moving through the Mumbra and Manpada areas of Thane district.
API Police then obtained information about the vehicle’s owner and driver through confidential sources. The alleged driver, identified as Wasim Ibrar Khan, 38, a resident of Khardi in Mumbra, Thane district, was apprehended first.
Information obtained during his questioning led police to detain Sahil Mojalin Patel, 32, a resident of Dombivli West, Thane, and Imtiyaz Liyakat Ghodke, 45, a resident of Dharmveer Nagar, Srushti Vihar, Thane.
During questioning, police learned that the stolen cigarettes had allegedly been sold to the owner of a paan shop opposite Xperia Mall on Kalyan-Shil Road. The Crime Branch subsequently recovered cigarette cartons worth ₹2 lakh from the shop.
Police said Patel and Ghodke had previously been booked in similar burglary cases in Gujarat’s Valsad district and Maharashtra’s Thane district.
The operation was conducted under the guidance of Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Tejaswi Satpute, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gauhar Hasan and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Shankar Khatke and Senior Police Inspector Anjum Bagwan.
The investigating team comprised Assistant Police Inspector Mohsin Pathan and police personnel Vinayak Yewale, Sandeep Yele, Vijay Awale, Prafull More, Kailas Chavan, Jyotiba Kurale, Paresh Sawant, Santosh Hole and Mahesh Baravkar.
