Ludhiana: Burglars break into Giaspura store, make away with ₹8 lakh

The entire operation was captured on the store’s CCTV cameras, which showed three masked men breaking into the premises between 1.30 am and 2.30 am

A gang of burglars robbed a departmental store in Sahnewal’s Giaspura area in the wee hours of Monday, using a gas cutter to break open the rear gate before drilling through a wall to gain entry. The masked burglars spent nearly an hour inside the store and escaped with goods worth around ₹8 lakh.

Store owner Sonu Kumar said the burglars first used a gas cutter to cut through the rear gate. (HT File)

The entire operation was captured on the store’s CCTV cameras, which showed three masked men breaking into the premises between 1.30 am and 2.30 am.

Store owner Sonu Kumar said the burglars first used a gas cutter to cut through the rear gate. After gaining access to the rear side of the premises, they drilled a hole through the wall and entered the store.

The burglars allegedly targeted packed cartons and sacks containing eatables and other goods stored inside the premises. They collected the material and fled.

Kumar suspects that the burglars had accomplices waiting outside to transport the stolen goods. He said a pickup van was captured on CCTV at some distance from the store around the time of the burglary, raising suspicion that the stolen goods were loaded into the vehicle before the gang fled.

“The accused did not touch the goods displayed on the shelves. They specifically took away packed cartons and sacks of eatables and other material. The stolen goods are worth ₹8 lakh. We suspect their accomplices loaded the material into a pickup van, which was seen in the area around the same time,” he said.

The store owner said he discovered the burglary after reaching the premises in the morning and informed the Giaspura police post. A police official visited the spot and inspected the premises, but, according to Kumar, an FIR had not been registered till the time of his statement.

He said he had also handed over information regarding the CCTV footage to the police and urged them to identify the suspects and recover the stolen goods.

Sahnewal SHO sub-inspector Dalvir Singh said he would look into the matter and assured that an FIR would be registered.