Hole-in-the-wall jewel theft stumps cops

Robbers carved out a sq foot of hole in the wall to enter Kandivli store; may have used a trained animal or a child to get in through the small gap, cops say

The Kandivli police were baffled by a robbery at a jewellery shop yesterday whence a group of thieves made away with gold and silver ornaments worth lakhs, without so much as breaking the lock. Instead, they drilled a foot-wide hole in the adjoining shop and, apparently with the help of a child or a trained animal who could pass through the small gap, managed to loot the store of 5 kg of gold and 65 kg of silver jewellery.


Looted: Robbers decamped with 5 kg of gold and 65 kg of silver
jewellery from a jeweller's shop in Kandivli

According to the police, the incident occurred in the wee hours of Monday, at VS Malandkar jewellers, shop number 5, Keshwa Nagar Vasanji Laji Road near Kandivali West station. Shivani Malandkar, owner of the store, said in her statement to the police, "At 10.30 am, when we opened for the day, the employees were shocked to find a hole in the wall of the shop. Jewellery boxes had been ransacked and ornaments worth lakhs were missing. They rang the police station and informed them."

Ramrao Pawar, additional commissioner of police (north region), said that the police have registered a case of theft against the unidentified accused, and that they will record the statement of the night watchman, and proceed with the investigations. "The night watchman was relieved of duty at 8 am on Monday morning and his mobile phone has been switched off since then. We are waiting for him so we can ask him whether he saw anything unusual in the night," said Pawar.

Asked about the modus operandi, Pawar said that, the robbers had entered the shop adjacent to the jewellery store, shop number 4, which has been vacant since the past 10 years as its owner is not in the country.
"The robbers drilled a hole through the wall, about a foot by a foot, connecting the two shops.

They cut off the electric wire passing through the wall to prevent getting an electric shock, and later, reattached it with a duct tape. The boxes containing the jewellery were then dragged to the hole where they were emptied and left inside the jewellery shop," said Pawar.u00a0"Since the drilled gap is extremely small, we suspect the robbers might have got a child or a trained animal like a monkey to pass through the gap and swipe the ornaments," he added.