Chennai: Prompted by a mobile phone alert, a Chennaiite in the Netherlands was able to get two men who broke into his house in Ashok Nagar arrested. Police recovered stolen gold and silver from the burglars.
Venkataramanan was with his wife, visiting their daughter in the Netherlands on Sunday night, when he got an alarm on his phone, thanks to a security system he had installed in his Chennai home. The system alerted him about some suspicious movement in his locked house. Venkataraman called his Chennai neighbour Venkata Subramanian who went to check the house. The neighbour found the front door of the house was tampered with and informed police.
Ashok Nagar police dispatched a patrol team that found the front door and an almirah in the house open. The police team undertook a perimeter search and arrested two men identified as Kamalakannan, 65, from Pallavaram, and Aari Philip, 57, from Thirupathur. Police said the men have a history of burglaries and where carrying some stolen goods. “They tried to hide in the darkness, but we picked them up,” said an officer.
During inquiry, Kamalakannan and Aari Philip admitted to their criminal activities. Kamalakannan has been involved in 70 cases across the state, while Philip had been involved in 20. In a desperate attempt to escape, Philip tried to climb a compound wall but fell, suffering an injury on the forehead. Police recovered six sovereigns of gold jewellery, 1.5kg of silver articles, foreign currency, and some imitation gold jewellery. Inquiries revealed that the burglars had attempted to break into another home in the area, owned by an auditor and his family. However, they fled the scene after finding nothing of value except a laptop. The arrested duo was later presented before a magistrate court and remanded in judicial custody.
In another incident in Mogappair, police arrested a thief who had hidden inside a locked room of a house. The suspect, identified as Balamurugan from Kodungaiyur, was apprehended while attempting to steal valuables from a residence whose occupants were away in Pudukottai. He has a record of 10 criminal cases, police said. He has been sent to Puzhal prison.