Nawaf, the 27 year old youth who planned the theft of 50 sovereigns of gold at a jewellery shop in Thamaraserry banked on his skills in stone masonry and odd jobs to execute the robbery, police said. The three member gang drilled their way through the wall of the outlet. They chose the perfect spot for entry; the portion of the wall near the concrete pillar. As a mason, Nawaf knew that the bricks near the pillar are easily removable and puncturing the wall was easy.
The police have arrested Nawaf, his younger brother Nisar and Nihal, a friend of Nisar in connection with the theft. The cops also recovered almost 300 grams of stolen gold. DySP P Pramod told Onmanorama that Nawaf and his brother were seasoned masons and skilled labourers in stone work. They could take drilling machines, hammers and other tools on rent easily. The gang would buy new axe for a job and would throw it away once the job was done, police said.
Proximity to the target from the rented houses also helped the brothers. They took their time studying the premises and choosing the right time for theft. In 2023, they had rented a house at Korangadu before they broke into the house of the owner and made away with Rs 10,000. The accused have confessed to this theft during questioning. In the case of jewellery theft, they rented a house barely 200 metres away from the jewellery outlet and took two weeks to hatch the scheme. The brothers often broke into a ruckus irking the neighbours and this habit gave them away.
On the night of the theft, they caused a noisy scene, triggering complaints from the neighbours. The house owner was alerted and they were asked to vacate immediately, just like they wanted. The police naturally looked for people who vacated from rented houses near the jewellery in the days after the theft. In this case, they were forcibly asked to vacate, leaving no room for suspicion. However a chance discovery about the criminal past of Nawaf brought them back in focus.
The cops scoured footage from over 500 CCTV cameras before pinning down the accused.For Nawaf, cunning came as second nature as he even fooled his own brother. Even while sharing the booty, Nawaf allegedly pocketed an extra 85 grams of gold in stealth. On the same day when Nawaf got arrested, the police recovered 20 sovereigns from Nisar's rented house in Irul Kunnu, near Thamarassery. Later Nisar and Nihal were arrested from Ernakulam, where Nihal was working in a petrol pump with his partner. Nihal had told his family that he was in the Gulf. Out of 105 grams of Nihal's share, police recovered 53 grams, which were kept unsold.
