Rise in night-time burglaries likely

Thiruvananthapuram: The police have warned the public against a possible spurt in night time burglaries during monsoon.

Deputy Commissioner of Police C.H. Nagaraju said that professional burglars, mainly gangs from outside the district and State, often used the cover of darkness and rain for their operations.

The police said at least 11 housebreaks were reported in the city in May. The burglars had shown a preference for gold ornaments, cash and electronic gadgets. In some cases, the burglars had targeted areas were power outages were relatively common and street lighting poor. Most of the burglaries were reported during night.

The police said negligence on the part of house owners often worked to the advantage of thieves. Burglars broke into houses through weak and ill-secured backyard doors and also those leading to the terrace.

Most of the recent house breaks had occurred between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. The police suspect that migrant gangs responsible for the burglaries used early morning buses and trains to decamp with their loot.

The detection rate in burglary cases was relatively low compared to other serious crimes such as armed robbery, murder-for-gain, cheating and causing grievous hurt.

It is difficult to recover stolen property, particularly gold, in its original form. The police said there could be a new set of burglars at work in the city and they were yet to figure in police records.