Days after cumin seeds worth Rs 62 lakh robbed, 2 held; consignment recovered: Cops

“We got inputs that the two accused had received a truck-load of jeera robbed by five men. So, we conducted a raid on Gafar’s cottage, detained Gafar and Abedin on Saturday, and recovered the whole consignment,” said Bhavna Chaudhary, police inspector, SOG.

Gafar and Abedin, Chaudhary said, were handed over to Anjar police station in Kutch where a case of robbery was registered on Thursday. “The two Jamnagar men, who are farmers, don’t have any criminal antecedents.

However, two weeks ago, during a religious event, the duo met a few robbers of Kutch who asked them if they would store rice, edible oil, and cumin seeds from the black market. The duo agreed. The men robbed the truck near Anjar, and sent it to Masitiya,” Chaudhary further said.

“The robbers promised half the consignment to the Jamnagar men,” he added.
On the day of the incident, police said, five robbers allegedly overpowered the driver and cleaner of a truck that was transporting the consignment from Morbi to Gandhidham in Kutch while the driver and cleaner were taking a nap.

According to an FIR registered at Anjar police station on Thursday, the robbers beat up the truck driver and cleaner, snatched their mobile phones, tied them with ropes, and confined them inside the driver’s cabin in the truck.

The robbers then drove the truck all the way to Masitiya village, unloaded 540 bags of cumin seeds, and then abandoned the driver, cleaner and the truck near Falla village of the district on Rajkot-Jamnagar state highway No.25. Police are trying to nab the robbers, Chaudhary said.

The robbery comes at a time when the prices of cumin seeds are skyrocketing.

Currently, the prices are hovering around Rs 45,000 per quintal in Unjha agricultural produce market committee in Mehsana, the biggest cumin seeds market in Asia.