The Central police have arrested four young women who roamed around in the guise of nomadic scrap collectors during the day time to identify the houses to break-in for thefts during the night.
The arrested were identified as Amaravthy, 20, of Kozhikode; Devi, 22, Kasthuri, 22, and Devi, 21, of Wayanad.
They allegedly stole 20 sovereigns of gold ornaments, ₹3.25 lakh, US dollars, and a luxury watch collectively worth ₹25 lakh from a house near Lakshmi hospital. The house has a watchman and is often frequented by many people during day time. They targeted the house since it had no surveillance cameras, the police said.
A special squad formed by District Police Chief (Kochi City) C.H. Nagaraju arrested the accused. The squad led by Central Inspector S. Vijaysankar made the arrests after days-long probe, which was marred by the absence of CCTV cameras. However, going through the CCTV footage in the neighbourhood gave police hint about the nomads.
The squad then made a State-wide probe, including through social media, based on these inputs. Separate teams were sent to Kannur, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts, leading to the arrest of the first accused. A portion of the stolen properties was seized from her. The remaining accused were arrested based on her interrogation.
The accused used to roam around with children in the guise of scrap collectors to select the house found deserted to target. In some cases, their husbands were the ones who carried out the thefts.
They, however, avoided houses with CCTV cameras. Houses that seemed to be deserted were marked by the accused. The police have recovered some stolen properties from the accused. Their custody will be sought for interrogation to recover more properties, said principal sub inspector Prem Kumar.
