Udupi: The Udupi District Crime Intelligence Bureau (DCIB) headed by Inspector TR Jayashankar has arrested three inter-state thieves and recovered valuables worth Rs 28lakh from them, Udupi Superintendent of Police Annamalai said.
The arrested are identified as Narasimharaju (37), Mohammed Shabeer (20) and Firoz Pasha. As much as 553 grams of gold, 20kg of silver, two motorcycles, a Tata Sumo, seven mobile phones and Rs 20,650 have been seized from their possession.
The accused were involved in theft of gold ornaments from Mahalasanarayana Temple, Hiriadka and Durgaparameshwari Temple, Belman. They were also involved in the theft of money amounting in thousands of rupees from various donation boxes placed at temples.
Annamalai said, with the nabbing of the trio, eight out of 16 temple theft cases in Udupi have been solved.
Divulging more information about the accused, the SP said that the gang of five used to watch programmes on temples and learn about them. They then used to visit those temples as devotees and plan thefts. As many as 250 keys and 600 locks were recovered from them.
Two of their partners, Chand Pasha and Rehman Shira are absconding. A hunt for them is on, Annamalai said.
