Tirupati: Puthur police arrested a 4-member gang including two from Tamil Nadu involved in nine house breaking cases and recovered from them silver and gold ornaments worth Rs 20.4 lakh.

The arrested were identified as Mani (39), Suresh (35), Kumar (29) and Manikanta (25). Two more including Prabhu and Manigandan are still at large.

Kumar and Manikanta from Tirupati came into contact with Mani and Suresh who are from Tamil Nadu while they were in jail and formed into a gang after they were released from jail. The four were involved in series of house-breaking cases in Puttur and Chandragiri constituencies. The gang members first identify the locked houses and later during nights break open the houses to enter and take away valuable gold and silver ornaments. Following the series of thefts, special teams were formed to nab the culprits involved in nine cases in Puttur and Chandragiri constituencies. The gang members also stole 2 motorcycles which they used for their conveyance.

SP Harshavardhan Raju urged the people to be more cautious about thieves who are breaking locked houses and looting during nights.

SP appreciated the team members who were involved in the operation including Puttur DSP Ravi Kumar, CI Raverndra, SIs Obaiah, Naresh, Venkatesh and district crime team PCs Damu, Nagaraju, Ramesh, Mohan, Rajasekhar, Ravi Prakash, Mohan and Munirathnam.