67 laptops, `20 lakh stolen from eight shops

Unidentified men broke into eight shops, most of them in a row, in Borivli (East) on Thursday morning and made way with 67 laptops and cash worth Rs20 lakh. The incident occurred at the Vasant Marvel Complex near the Western Express Highway between 5 and 6am, as the three watchmen on-duty were asleep.

Unidentified men broke into eight shops, most of them in a row, in Borivli (East) on Thursday morning and made way with 67 laptops and cash worth Rs20 lakh.
The incident occurred at the Vasant Marvel Complex near the Western Express Highway between 5 and 6am, as the three watchmen on-duty were
asleep.

HT Image

According to the police, the five accused had come on two bikes and had also brought a tempo along with them. The accused broke open the shutters of the eight shops, most of which were of electronic items. While their plan was to target more shops, one of their gang members accidentally dropped a chair in a shop that drew the attention of a local, who in turn alerted the society members. The accused put the booty in the tempo and fled.

The police have collected the footage from the CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity.

“The accused are clearly visible in the CCTV footage. They will be arrested soon. We haven’t found images of the tempo or its driver,” said Bharat Worlikar, senior inspector, Kasturba police station.

“It is a major security lapse. Sixty-seven laptops were stolen from my warehouse. We switch off our CCTV cameras after 10.30pm as it can cause short-circuit. But, the police have got the footage from the CCTV cameras of the neighbouring shops,” said Anil Tiwari.

“The robbery in the presence of watchmen shows that they are of no use. Like the ground floor shops, our flats on the first floor too could be targetted,” said Vishal Desai, owner of a car shop in the area.