The city police on Saturday solved the case of the sensational burglary at Punjagutta’s Kamal Watch Stores, from where watches worth Rs. 1.30 crore were stolen a fortnight ago. Two members of a Bihar-based shutter-lifting gang, believed to be behind the crime, have been arrested.
Though police could recover only Rs. 7 lakh-worth of watches — of the Rado and Longines make — they succeeded in detecting three such break-ins by the 13-member gang in the city.
While investigators had been clueless about the burglaries of high-end mobile phone shops at Banjara Hills, Narayanaguda and Karkhana in past few months, the arrest of Munna Kumar, 40, and Mohd. Nisaruddin, 22, revealed that gangs from Bihar broke into these shops decamped with the items, valued at lakhs of rupees.
“In the Kamal watch store case, members of the gang came to the city and checked into lodges. They did a reconnaissance of different localities and targeted the shop,” Central Crime Station DCP L.K.V. Ranga Rao told presspersons.
Modus operandi
Members of the gang would go to the targeted shop after midnight and and lie on the stairs or the pavement, acting as thought they were asleep.
After having made sure that no one was around, the gang would lift the shutter upto six inches using a hydraulic jack and send inside a member of lean build. They would then down the shutter once so as not to arouse anyone’s suspicion.
“Keeping a pencil torch between his lips, the offender would collect whatever he could lay his hands on from the shop, come out and hand them over to his associates,” the investigators said. While a majority of the members remain in Hyderabad planning out more such thefts, two of the gang are sent to the Nepal border with the booty which is sold to select receivers at throwaway rates. For example, a Rado watch worth a lakh rupees would be sold for Rs. 10,000.
Daring operation
A special team of the CCS, led by Inspector V. Shyam Babu, had suspected involvement of Bihar gangs as they found the modus operandi similar to burglaries conducted in three other mobile phone shops.
In a daring operation, they went to the Nepal border, posing as businessmen willing to buy stolen property. The policemen found some stolen watches of Rado and Longines brands with members of the gang and realised that they were stolen from Kamal Watch Stores.
They then sought the help of the Bihar police and with their help, raided the hideouts of the gang in Godeshan of East Champaran district and caught the two accused.