CCTV video shows 3 Colombian nationals breaking into a house in Bengaluru's Jayanagar.
Police has released CCTV footage from Bengaluru where three thieves from Colombia, including a woman, can be seen trying to break into a silk merchant's house in the city's posh Jayanagar locality.
The CCTV video that is dated June 22, shows a woman, now identified as T Belia, wearing a head scarf and ringing the doorbell of the house. She is then seen knocking at the door, peeping through the window and keyhole to confirm that there was no one at the home. She then calls her gang members and two men arrive at the house wearing caps. They can be seen wearing gloves, suggesting they are professionals at this work. After one of the two men spots CCTV camera, all three escape the spot in a failed theft attempt.
The CCTV footage helped police to track and arrest the gang of five Colombian thieves last week. Police said the gang is responsible for a series of thefts in Bengaluru, including the one at former Karnataka Chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee's house in Jayanagar.
The arrested thieves - Edward Alejandro, T Belia, J Gloria, Josh Edward and Roger Smith - speak Spanish.
"All the five accused have history of criminal cases in their countries. One of the five accused Gustavo Adolfo alias Jaramillo Giraldo had served 16 years of imprisonment in Columbia for killing the son of a Police Officer. A couple of them have forged Mexican Passport.They have bought a Wireless set from Mexico that they used here to escape from the Police Radar," said SD Sharnappa DCP South Bangalore.
"The five other theft cases are in Tilaknagar, HSR Layout and Jayanagar. It took us some time to track them down to Shivajinagar," the police said.
Police said that the gang had committed thefts earlier in 2010 and 2016 as well. They had planned thefts in Bengaluru 4-5 months in advance and also bought walkie-talkies, pre-activated SIM cards, basic mobile phones and tools to help them carry out the robberies.