Colombians suspects in break-in at ex-CS house

Five foreigners, including a woman, are in police custody after they were detained for committing burglaries. The gang is suspected to have targeted the house of former chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee too.

The foreigners, who are said to be from Colombia in South America and speaking Spanish, were tourists and staying in the city for the past 25 days, the police said. “However, we have to verify their passports and their places of stay to confirm their versions,” they added.

Probing a house-break theft and also a foiled burglary attempt in South Bengaluru’s Jayanagar, the police collected CCTV footage and began the investigation. The gang who looked well-dressed, wearing caps and a headscarf, were well equipped with tools, including gloves to ensure they left no fingerprints, the police said. The burglars even used walkie-talkies to coordinate during the burglaries. The gang only targeted bungalows, duplex and pent-houses that were locked and arrived at the targeted houses in a swanky car, police sources said after analysing CCTV footage.

The five are being questioned and are suspected to be involved in a few other burglaries including the one at Mukherjee’s house in HSR Layout. On June 18, the gang made away with valuables, including 20 expensive watches, 20 earrings, six gold bangles, three diamond earrings and rings all worth Rs 25 lakh from Mukherjee’s house.

The police also suspect it was the same gang, including the woman, that had attempted to break into the house of a silk textile showroom owner Muralikrishna in Jayanagar 5th Block on June 22. Since the gang noticed the CCTV cameras, they aborted their attempt and fled. The incident happened around 3.30 pm, and the entire attempt to break in was captured on the CCTV, which is with the police.

The police refused to divulge the foreigners’ identities as investigations are still in progress.

“The detained foreigners are giving inconsistent statements about their stay and their purpose of visit and hence we need to verify their statements before we regularise their arrests,” a senior police officer said.