For long, the Ambalamedu police have been on the hunt for a thief with a penchant for water metres, motors and easy-to-spirit-away valuables, especially made of brass and copper.
Having been under the impression all along that the suspect was a migrant, the police were in for a surprise on Friday afternoon when they finally caught up with him.
The accused Kunjumon aka Sakhavu, 41, turned out to be local resident within their station limits. He was picked up from his house at Kuzhikkadu along the border of Ambalamedu police station limits.
CCTV footage showed him dressed in black and wearing a cap, which the police assume was a deliberate ploy to create the impression of a migrant. “However, his peculiar gait and physical appearance led some of our squad members to suspect that he was perhaps a history-sheeter. That hunch proved right,” said K.K. Shebab, sub inspector, Ambalamedu Police.
Modus operandi
According to the police, his modus operandi was rather simple. Dressed in black, he would be out looking for easy targets in the early morning hours. Most of his thefts were timed between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.
“Theft of water metres and motors, though not excessively costly items, could pose a lot of inconvenience to the affected people in replacing them,” said Mr. Shebab.
A team including ASI Elias, senior civil police officer Benoy A. Paul and civil police officers Muraleedharan and Sumesh made the arrest.