KOCHI: The police on Wednesday arrested five youths on the charge of theft at a fuel station near Aluva in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The arrested are Mishal, Mohammed Raees, Sahal, Abhin, and Shihab, all aged under 20 and natives of Aluva. The police also discovered a vault containing around ₹6 lakh, allegedly stolen by the youths from the fuel station, at an isolated location near Desom-Kalady road.
According to the police, the accused were staying near the fuel station and knew about the vault where the daily collection at the fuel station was kept.
The five had gone on a trip to Bangalore and Mysore last week, which reportedly put them in financial distress. To address the problem, they planned the theft, the police said.
The gang had reached the fuel station in a car late on Monday night, and Mishal entered the office room wearing a helmet and lifted the vault. “They broke open the window using a grinding machine and fled the spot after lifting the vault, which weighed around 60 kg. They, however, were not able to break the vault open despite repeated attempts and hence decided to hide it,” the police added.
Going by CCTV footage, which showed a slender person sneaking into the office room by breaking open the window and turning off one of the CCTV cameras, the police traced Mishal. Based on information given by him, the others were arrested.
Though Mishal had worn a helmet to cover his face, the police assumed he was a local and eventually zeroed in on him during the course of the investigation.
The arrested were produced at the magistrate court in Aluva and remanded in judicial custody.
