Jos Alukkas burglary: Thief chanced upon hole on building’s wall after aborting plan to strike at mobile shop

M. Vijay, who was arrested for breaking into the Jos Alukkas jewellery showroom in Coimbatore, being escorted to court on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The burglary at the Jos Alukkas jewellery showroom in Coimbatore was pulled off by M. Vijay, aged 25, after he stumbled upon a hole in the wall of the building while ambling down the narrow lanes at 100 Feet Road, Coimbatore, on the intervening night of November 27 and 28.

The burglary incident in which he decamped with 5.15 kg of ornaments from the jewellery showroom was not part of the initial plan, Vijay told the police following his arrest in Chennai on Monday.

On the night of November 27, Vijay arrived at 100 Feet Road all prepared to burgle a mobile showroom. “However, he dropped the plan as stock was being unloaded at the mobile showroom. He then walked around the locality and chanced upon a hole in one of the sidewalls of the jewellery showroom,” said G. Chandeesh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Coimbatore North).

As per Vijay’s statement, the hole was covered with a plywood piece. He removed it, crawled through the narrow gap along the path of the light emitted from one of the floors. He managed to slip into an office cabin and, after rummaging through the drawers, collected gold, platinum, diamond and silver jewellery at random and escaped through the same route. The stolen items weighed 5.15 kg.

“Vijay tried to procure a SIM card. But he could not arrange one without an Aadhaar card. He was nabbed from Koyambedu bus stand while he was trying to procure a SIM card,” Mr. Chandeesh said.

The police recovered 700 grams of silver ornaments from Vijay. He was also in possession of 54 grams of gold ornaments and about ₹20,000, which he had stolen from a relative’s house in Dharmapuri district, said the police.

Five special police teams, comprising 48 personnel, had recovered over 3 kg of the stolen jewellery from Vijay’s wife, Narmatha, 23, on November 30, and more than 1 kg from his mother-in-law, Yogarani, 48, on December 4. The special teams, headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police T.H. Ganesh, have in total recovered 5.12 kg of the stolen items.

Rathinapuri Inspector C. Rajkumar and his team produced Vijay before the second judicial magistrate court on Tuesday. The court remanded Vijay in judicial custody till December 26.

Security audit

On Monday, City Police Commissioner V. Balakrishnan held a meeting with representatives from around 150 jewellery showrooms and urged them to conduct a security audit of their buildings. They were told to ensure that jewellery showrooms are equipped with advanced security systems, including vibration sensor (to detect drilling of wall), motion sensors and burglary alarms. Old surveillance cameras need to be replaced with new ones, the representatives were advised.