KOCHI: Even 48 hours on since the daring break-ins committed by armed burglars at Pulleppady and Tripunithura back-to back, the police remained clueless on the outlaws’ possible hideout. Official sources confirmed they were yet to make any major headway in the case and the Ernakulam North SI said they are pulling out all the stops to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The investigation is mainly focused on migrant labourers since the victims revealed the bandits conversed mostly in Hindi. Despite the absence of a clear lead, the investigators have warned the public the gang might strike again at a couple of places. Hence, the people have been asked to keep an eye out. Also, night patrolling was strengthened as part of the efforts to beef up security. A round-the-clock surveillance is being mounted at the airport, Railway station and bus stands to cut off all the escape routes if the bandits are indeed holed up in the district.
“The miscreants are leading us to different areas and we are looking at all possible angles. It will take a couple of days to get a clear picture and nab all the assailants,” said DCP A R Premkumar, who heads the SIT probing the case.
The gang first struck at E K Ismail’s house in Pulleppady at 3 am on Friday and decamped with five sovereigns of gold after tying up Ismail and his wife. Though the CCTV footage showed the buccaneers emerging from the house, their faces were not clearly visible. Barely 24 hours later, a similar heist occurred at the residence of Nannappilli Anandakumar in Tripunithura at 2.30 am. There the gang made away with 50 sovereigns of gold, mobiles and cash.