CHENNAI: Finding themselves cornered with clinching evidence, including CCTV footage, a gang of women thieves from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, who had escaped to their village after stealing sarees worth around Rs 7 lakh, sent the stolen goods to a police station in the city in an effort to escape from the clutches of law.

The gang, comprising six to seven women, are habitual thieves who often target shops that are teeming with festival shoppers. They travel together from their native and return after bagging enough loot.

On October 28, they entered an exhibition hall in Besant Nagar. The footage shows a group of women forming a row to block the staff’s view, while one woman is seen taking the sarees from the table and tucking them in the specially tailored pocket in her inner skirt. They then left the shop nonchalantly, without raising any suspicion. According to the police, the sarees were made of Kancheepuram silk, with the price ranging between Rs 30,000 to Rs 70,000.

However, they did not realise that the whole episode was captured by the CCTV installed there, which led to them being identified. Following this, the Chennai police contacted their counterparts in Vijayawada and a team of officials from there went to nab the women.

When the Vijayawada police cornered them, the women pleaded with them and promised to return the stolen sarees and also cooperate with the police from Chennai. As per the ‘deal’, they sent the sarees, estimated to be worth Rs 7 lakh to Shastri Nagar police station.

However, noting that their crime could not be condoned merely because the thieves returned the valuables, the officials said a team from here would go to Vijayawada and apprehend the gang after Deepavali festival.