Coimbatore: A six-member gang, which attempted to hijack a new truck worth Rs 18 lakh with 10.5 tonnes coconut in it, was arrested on Tuesday. The Negamam police, who traced the six with the help of global positioning system (GPS), have also recovered the truck and the coconut consignment from the arrested.According to police, the incident took place at 11.30pm on Sunday when truck driver S Manohar, 30, of Viluppuram, was transporting 10.5 tonnes coconut from Anaimalai to Chennai. When he reached near Negamam on Pollachi-Palladam road, the gang members, who came in a sports utility vehicle and a motorcycle, waylaid the truck, kidnapped the driver and drove away the truck on Palladam-Trichy road.The gang unloaded the coconut in a godown near Pongalur and left the place. They, however, dropped the truck driver near Kangeyam. Manohar subsequently alerted the truck owner, V Prakash, of Porur in Chennai. The truck was fitted with GPS and Prakash stopped its engine with its help, forcing the gang to abandon the truck and escape.Prakash told TOI that he had bought the new truck about seven months ago and sent it to Anaimalai near Pollachi from Chennai for the first time to load coconut. “I was asked to supply coconut to Koyambedu market. So, I asked my driver to bring a consignment of coconut from Anaimalai. The vehicle was hijacked while it was on its way to Chennai. The gang members did not find out that the truck was fitted with GPS.”As soon as his driver informed him about the incident, Prakash contacted the Coimbatore rural police and shared the GPS information to them. “The truck was parked in a godown for more than an hour. With the help of GPS, police traced the location and found coconuts were unloaded at the godown of Everest Steel Company Godown near Pongalaur and picked up two people, who confessed to the crime during interrogation,” the truck owner said.The two also spilled the beans on the remaining members of the gang. Based on this information, the Negamam police picked them up for questioning. All the six were arrested on Tuesday. The arrested were identified as drivers T Venkateshkumar, 25, and M Hariprasad, 26, of Ovilpalayam near Kinathukadavu; R Gokulkumar, 25, a BE graduate from Pollachi; J Abdul Rahman, 23, and M Santhosh, 20, of Meenakshipuram and G Manikandan, 23, a construction worker from Anaimalai.The six were produced before a local court, which remanded them in judicial custody for 15 days. Following this, they were lodged at the Coimbatore Central Prison.

Stay updated with all the Coimbatore Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.