JORHAT, Sept 15 - A three-member gang of thieves broke into a wholesale shop selling biscuits, bhujiyan and other eatables at Chamber Road locality here in the wee hours on Saturday and reportedly took away Rs 5.33 lakh by breaking open the cash box.
As per a complaint lodged at the Jorhat Police Station by the owner of the shop named BK Agency, the latter stated that the images captured at 3.20 am by CCTV cameras installed in the building showed three men with their faces covered scaling the entrance gate of the building and then entering the shop by breaking open the backdoor of the room.
The three men within a short while were seen coming out of the shop with a bag, believed to contain cash. Police investigation into the incident is on.
It may be mentioned here that on Wednesday night thieves broke open locks of five shops in New Balibat area and succeeded in stealing cash in two shops. The same night thieves broke the lock of a paan shop in the adjoining Old Balibat locality and took away an FM radio and a lock.
Last week a thief stole money from the donation box attached to the entrance gate of the Purana Masjid at Old Balibat locality here by scaling the boundary walls near the gate, as per recorded CCTV images.
Last month too, a wholesale medicine shop in the New Balibat area was burgled by thieves who reportedly took away Rs two lakh. A Pulsar motorbike too was stolen from a bhujiyan factory at Phansi Ali locality here last month.
Further, thieves decamped with two electric motors from water pumpsets from the same factory premises.
Since the beginning of this year, there has been a rise in incidents of thefts in shops, lifting of vehicles along with incidents of snatching bags containing cash and also mobile handsets from pedestrians and pillion-riders by motorbike-borne youths in and around the town.
It may be mentioned here that in January this year, Jorhat Police had installed 32 CCTV cameras at different locations of the city under a project to assist in curbing crime.
