The district police have been successful in cracking a case of series of theft of black pepper from houses and godowns in different parts of the district.
The police on Wednesday arrested Harish, Sonu, Rajesh, Ramesh, Cariappa, Madesh, Santhosh and Ravi. Two accused, Madesh and Santhosh, are still at large.
The thieves had stolen 26 bags of black pepper weighing 50 kg --- each worth Rs 8.8 lakh along with a laptop worth Rs 46,500 --- from the godown of Jathin at APMC yard near Gonikoppa.
The gang had also stolen 700 kg of black pepper worth Rs 5.60 lakh from the godown of Cheppudira Uthappa near Ponnampet. After selling 700 kg of black pepper, all the accused had purchased two-wheelers.
SP P Rajendra Prasad said the gang had also stolen 2.5 kg of silver ornaments from a jeweller at Virajpet along with 20 kg pepper, 50 kg coffee beans, from the house of one Faisal. They had decamped with six mobile phones and Rs 1,500 from a mobile showroom at Kushalnagar police station limits.
He said the police have seized valuables including autorickshaw, bikes, tempos and pepper worth Rs 27.43 lakh.
The SP announced a cash prize of Rs 20,000 to the investigation team. The owner of a godown from where black pepper was stolen has also announced reward of Rs 25,000 to the team.
