Three more people arrested from TN in Pallippuram gold heist case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Mangalapuram police have arrested three more persons, including the mastermind, in connection with the gold heist at the National Highway near Pallippuram on April 9. Santosh Clement, 5 6 ,hai l ing f rom Balaramapuram, Satheesh Kumar, 40, of Kanyakumari and Ajeesh, 30, of Alathur were arrested by a team led by Mangalapuram SHO H L Sajeesh. The police said Santosh was the mastermind while the other two were his accomplices. Sampath Surve, who ran a jewellery at Neyyattinkara, was looted by a gang after hacking him with a sword.

The gang had decamped with about 100 sovereigns of gold. Officers said Ajeesh had been employed by Sampath earlier and he knew that the latter regularly ferried gold in his car. Ajeesh shared this information with his friend Satheesh, who is a lorry driver. Satheesh in turn passed this on to Santosh, who worked in the real estate business in Chennai. Santosh planned the loot and hired a fKazhakuttom- based quotation gang to execute the plan. The group tailed Sampath for about two months to plan the operation. The police had earlier arrested the 15-member criminal gang that carried out the heist.

It was from the information gleaned from them that the cops managed to identify the role of the trio in the case. The police said Santosh, who has been living in Tamil Nadu for some time, has good connections with local politicians. He was allegedly part of the racket that smuggled spirit to Kerala and had a case registered against him in this regard. The police said a few more people were involved in the crime and they will be arrested soon.

Mastermind also lands in police net
Santosh was the mastermind while the other two were his accomplices. Sampath Surve, who ran a jewellery at Neyyattinkara, was looted by a gang after hacking him with a sword. The gang had decamped with about 100 sovereigns of gold.