Paravoor: Twelve bottles of premium liquor and cash amounting to ₹2,000 were stolen from an outlet of Bevco (Kerala State Beverages Corporation Limited) located at Pallamthuruthu road in Paravoor town in Ernakulam around 2 am on Monday. The incident came to light only on Tuesday morning when the employees arrived to open the shop, which was closed on Monday, being a dry day.

The staff also noticed that five cases of liquor bottles were lying broken on the floor of the shop. In total, a loss of nearly ₹1 lakh had occurred, said the employees.

The police have collected the CCTV visuals of the robbery and they reveal that three persons were involved in the crime. While two of them entered the shop by breaking the locks of the shutter on the ground floor, the remaining person waited outside. The shop sells ordinary liquor on the ground floor and premium brands on the upper floor.

After entering the ground floor, the robbers climbed the steps to the upper floor and took away bottles of premium brands. The costly liquor bottles were carried in cardboard boxes, said the employees. Being the Onam season, the outlet had stored additional stocks and the five cases apparently fell on the floor when the robbers broke in, they added. Cash stolen from the shop comprised mostly coins, the employees revealed.

Fingerprint experts and the dog squad collected evidence from the scene of the crime. A hammer, suspected to have been used to break the locks of the shutter, was found by the police from near the shop.