Punganur town, close to the Karnataka border, witnessed five attempts of house break-in, on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. The incidence of crime, after a lull of six months following COVID-19 lockdown, has created a flutter among the denizens.
The Punganur police said of the five incidents, burglars took away a small quantum of gold ornaments from the house of a local priest, but were not successful in the other four attempts.
Incidentally, the houses are located close to the police station. The burglars struck at the houses between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. All their targets were houses with locked doors. Seeing the beat constables, the burglars are said to have fled the town.
The police said that the CC camera footage under the municipal limits and the outskirts was being scrutinised. The hand of inter-State gangs operating between Chittoor district and Karnataka was not ruled out. In view of the commotion in the town, the police urged residents to secure the doors safely, and not to venture out locking their houses without informing the police. The residents were told to utilise the police services such as Locked Houses Monitoring Services (LHMS) when they go out of the town.
