A tyre of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Mirage Fighter jet has been stolen from a moving truck in Lucknow while being transported to Jodhpur airbase in Rajasthan.
The incident took place at Shaheed Path in Uttar Pradesh’s capital on November 27 when six new tyres of Mirage-2000 fighter jet were being ferried on a truck to Jodhpur airbase from Bakshi-Ka-Talab airbase in Lucknow.
Bakshi Ka Talab
Unidentified miscreants riding a black Scorpio car allegedly stole the tyre from the moving truck by cutting the rope that was attached to the tyre. A case has been registered at Ashiana police station on the complaint of the truck driver. The case of theft has been lodged under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code. Ashiana Police is examining the CCTV footage at Shaheed Path. As per police sources, five Mirage fighter jet tyres from the Air Command Station in the Bakshi Ka Talab area of Lucknow were being sent to Jodhpur air base.
A statement issued by the Indian Air Force said that on November 27, during a road transit of an IAF logistics consignment, the theft of an aircraft tyre was reported in Lucknow by the truck driver.
The IAF is providing all necessary assistance to Lucknow police in the investigation.
According to the FIR, at around 2 am on the night of November 27, the truck from which these tyres were being transported got stuck in a jam on Shaheed Path.
Mirage – Incident
- During the jam, two people who got down from the black Scorpio near the SR Hotel on Shaheed Path stole a tyre by cutting the rope.
- The driver of the truck, Hem Singh Rawat, wrote in the FIR that he could not catch the thieves due to traffic.
- Rawat then reported the theft to the police control room.
- The security team of the Air Force is also searching for CCTV footage from the Bakshi Ka Talab Air Force base to the place of the incident.
- At the same time, the security agency of the Air Force is also interrogating the driver of the trailer.
- The driver Hem Singh Rawat said that his truck was laden with six Mirage-2000 tyres to be transported to Jodhpur from Bakshi Ka Talab Air Force base.
- According to the driver, his transport company does the work of transporting spare parts of fighter planes.
- It is not possible to use Mirage tyres anywhere else, so this entire incident is being looked at with suspicion.
- At the same time, information is also being collected about those who buy junk of the Air Force and the Army.
- The truck was also carrying eight different items including
- two bomb trollies,
- a refueller vehicle,
- one universal trolly,
- six aircraft nose tyres,
- five aircraft main tyres, a seven step ladder,
- a five step ladder and two CO2 trollies.
- Two persons who had allegedly stolen a tyre of a Mirage fighter jet that was being transported in a truck to Jodhpur from Lucknow, returned the tyre a few days later, police said on December 4.
The two persons claimed they had taken the tyre with them thinking that it belonged to a truck, said Lucknow police.
End Note
During questioning the two persons said that on November 26, around 10:30-10:45 p.m., they found a tyre on Shaheed Path Cinepolis lying between the main road and service road. They took it home thinking it was the tyre of a truck, said police.
On December 3, the two came across the news about the stolen jet tyre and after figuring out that the tyre in their possession looked unusual, decided to return it, added the police.
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