Flight, Autos, Google Maps: How Telangana's Gold Thief Looted Kerala Homes

A man from Telangana who used to travel by flight to Kerala to steal gold from locked homes in the capital city was arrested from the airport here, police said on Wednesday. The accused has been identified as Umaprasad, a native of Khammam district of Telangana.

Narrating the modus operandi of the burglar, police said he would identify closed houses by roaming around in an autorickshaw and reach there at night using Google maps, to steal gold ornaments.

City police commissioner C H Nagaraju said Umaprasad used to travel to Kerala by flight. He came to the state capital last May for a darshan at the Padmanabha Swamy Temple here, the officer said.

"After one month of planning in June, he came back here only for breaking into houses. He would take only gold during the theft," the officer told reporters here.

He would then pledge the stolen ornaments and collect money. "Those ornaments would not be taken back (to Khammam). That was his modus operandi," the commissioner added.

The officer said more details of the burglaries Umaprasad committed may be revealed after a detailed interrogation.

Police sources said a tip-off given by the driver of an autorickshaw in which Umaprasad travelled to identify houses for his theft helped police pick up the "high profile" thief

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