Acting over a series of complaints from the eastern parts of the district, a shadow police team under Kollam Police Chief Arul.B.Krishna on Saturday arrested a 38-year-old person accused in more than 50 theft and burglary cases. The accused has been identified as Ajith.P.Arjun, Rohini Niwas, Pazhangalam, Perumpuzha.
According to police officials, the accused committed multiple thefts in Chandanathoppu, Kundara, Veliyam, Ambalamkunnu, Perumpuzha, Palamukku and Mukhathala in the past three months.
He had been using gas cutters and various modern cutting machines to break open the locks of supermarkets, furniture stores, textiles, jewellers and medical shops. He had made an attempt to open the locker of Popular Finance in Kundara, but left it half way as he found the metal too strong.
Officials said that the accused had a different modus operandi, choosing rainy days for most of his operations.
After parking his bike near the shops he would pose as a differently-abled person and commit the thefts after covering his face with a cap and handkerchief.
He also used gloves not to leave behind any fingerprints and according to police, he has been watching Hindi and English heist movies and the tech-savvy criminal also referred internet for foolproof methods.
The police recovered around ₹one lakh, jackie hammers for drilling concrete, gas cutters and cutting machines from his house.
Living in Gujarat
“The accused had been in Gujarat for over 20 years and is married to a Malayali woman living there.
He relocated to Gujarat after completing Class 10 and returned to Kerala due to family issues.
In Kollam he was staying with his elderly parents,” said the officials.
The arrest was made by a team including Chathannoor ACP Jawahar Janard, Kottiyam police inspector Ajaynath, Sub Inspectors Anoop, Thrithip Chandran, Sundaresan, Vipin Kumar and CPOs Baiju Jerome, Harilal, Manikandan, Sreeju, Saju and Manu.
