Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Aug 15: The city crime branch (CCB) police have arrested three persons of Nepal origin in connection with the theft at Maple store, the exclusive showroom for Apple products at Balmatta on the intervening night between August 2 and 3, and at a supermarket near Bajpe bus stand.
The arrested are Ganesh Sarke (30), Prakash Singh Khatari (30), who works as a security guard in Kulur, and Prakash alias Sher (27), all from different parts of Nepal.
The police also seized items worth Rs 3.25 lac from the accused.
The thieves had broken into the Maple store, the exlcusive showroom for Apple products, by dismantling the electricity metre box on the wall and decamped with 14 iPhones, 5 iPads, 4 Apple laptops, and cash worth Rs 1,97,980. A complaint in this regard was filed by the store manager Nitayanand in Kadri police station.
The thieves had also removed the exhaust fan and main switch board localted at the back to gain access into the store. The CCB police, suspecting it to be the handiwork of inter-state thieves, then gathered information about gangs who use this modus operandi, drew the sketches of the suspects and zeroed-in on three persons of Nepali origin.
The police first arrested Ganesh Sarke in Padubidri, Udupi and seized a mobile phone, laptop and a digital camera, altogether worth Rs 3,10,000, from him. The police learnt that the other two main accused had already fled to Nepal with the rest of the stolen items to sell them there.
The accused had come to Kavoor after arriving in Mangaluru from Nepal via Delhi on August 1. On the intervening night between August 1 and 2, they broke into Family Supermarket located near Bajpe bus stand by removing the exhaust fan on the ground floor, and decamped with a digital camera, a tab, watch and other items. The thieves had targetted the supermarket after collecting information about it from Nepali security guards in and around Mangaluru, the police learnt.
The police also arrested Prakash Singh Khatari who presently resides at Kulur and works as a security guard in the same vicinity, and Prakash alias Sher, currently residing at Kottara Chowki. It is learnt that the duo abetted the crime by showing the store as a target for the thieves, and each were given a mobile phone from the stolen booty. These mobile phones were seized by the police upon their arrest.
Altogether, the police recovered two laptops, six mobile phones, one Sony digital camera, totally worth Rs 3.25 lac, from the accused.
The CCB police said that a few people of Nepal origin working as security guards in the city pass on information about their workplaces to their Nepali friends and assist them in committing such thefts. The police have urged the public to check the track record before hiring anyone as security guard or for other work and submit the details to the nearest police station.
The arrest operation was conducted on the directions of police commissioner S Murugan, under the guidance of DCP K M Shantaraju, and led by CCB police inspector Valentine D'Souza.