The police have arrested four of the seven accused involved in the heist at the Vijaya Bank’s Cheruvathur branch last week.
The accused had made away with 19.50 kg gold worth nearly Rs.4.87 crore and Rs.2.95 lakh in cash from the bank.
A special police squad arrested four persons, including the mastermind, and recovered the looted valuables from two places near Cherkala here, District Police Chief A. Srinivas told a press conference at the Dy.SP office here on Sunday.
The prime accused Abdul Latheef, 32, a native of Balal and resident of Nalaam Mile near Kasaragod, Sulaiman, 43, from Karnataka’s Kudagu district, Mubashir, 21, a resident of Balla locality in Kanhangad, and Manaf, 30, from Chengala, near Kasaragod, were arrested by the team.
Mr. Srinivas said the police could recover almost the entire looted gold from two localities near Cherkala.
While gold ornaments weighing 8.70 kg were recovered from an unused well in a plot at Berka, near Cherkala, on Saturday evening, the remaining gold were collected from the rooftop of a house at Cherurkadavu, near Chengala, six km from Kasaragod, he said.
Of the remaining three accused, Rajesh Murali, a native of Idukki directly involved in the robbery, is in custody and the rest are under police surveillance.
The heist came to light on September 28 when the bank employees reported for work after two days’ recess on Saturday and Sunday.
The bank was robbed on September 27 after the accused drilled a hole in the roof and entered the strong room of the bank on the first floor. The robbers who made their bid at 11.30 a.m. the previous day retreated after hearing the security alarm inside the strong room. They committed the crime the next morning after severing the alarm bell wire.
Abdul Latheef hatched the conspiracy to rob the bank three months ago. Accordingly, he contacted his acquaintance Sulaiman to hire six ground floor rooms below the bank in the guise of setting up a fancy shop. He drilled the hole by cutting the concrete slab of the strong room with the help of Rajesh, an expert in cutting concrete slab.
The images captured by the CCTV at the nearby Farmers Service Cooperative Bank proved decisive in the investigation, Mr. Srinivas said.
