CHENNAI: A jewellery shop in Perambur was broken into and nine kg of gold worth Rs 4.50 crore and diamonds worth Rs 20 lakh were stolen after a gang gained entry to the shop after drilling a hole in the shutters using a welding machine.
The incident took place in the wee hours of Friday at the jewellery shop on Paper Mills Road in Perambur near Agaram Junction. The owner who lives on the second floor of the building was unaware of the theft, said the police.
The incident came to light on Friday morning when S Sridhar (38), the owner came to open the shop. He noticed a hole in the shutter. “Sridhar immediately informed the police and entered the store. He found the safe was damaged and valuables lying scattered,” said the police.
T V K Nagar police arrived on the scene armed with sniffer dogs and forensic experts. The sniffer dogs walked for about 200m from the shop and stopped, said the police. After a preliminary investigation, police said, the suspects used welding machines to cut open the shutter and the safe. “The robbers also damaged the CCTV cameras in the shop and took the hard disks.
After sifting through CCTV footage from nearby shops, we found out that the gang arrived in an SUV,” said a senior police officer. T S Anbu, Additional Commissioner of Police, North Chennai and R V Ramya Bharati, Joint Commissioner of Police, North, visited the spot and conducted investigations. Four special teams have been formed to nab the culprits.