CHENNAI: Police are probing whether there are any links between the gang that decamped with cash-filled chests of four ATMs in Tiruvannamalai and the gang that looted 9 kg gold from a city jewellery shop after cutting open the shutter using gas cutters on Thursday night.
As the modus operandi has some similarities, police are not ruling out the possibility of the same ‘out-of-state’ gang pulling off two daring heists in the gap of 48 hours.
According to a highly-placed source, the cash chests of the ATMs themselves were taken away by the burglars after detaching them from the machine with gas cutters.
Police are probing the possibility of the gang that looted the jewellery shop escaping to Andhra Pradesh via Uthukottai in neighbouring Tiruvallur district in an SUV.
“It looks like both the gangs escaped to Andhra Pradesh,” police added. In both cases, the suspects had used SUVs.
The Chennai police had formed nine teams to crack the case. Police believe the gang could have crossed the TN border and entered AP within two hours and with the help of AP police, the investigation has now reached the neighbouring state.
Police had also intensified vehicle checks across the state and as well as on border areas and toll booths.
However, police are not ruling out the possibility of a Haryana connection to the burglary. Earlier, in similar cases of ATM burglaries, Tiruvallur district police had nabbed a Haryana-based gang which was moving in a lorry in several states carrying gas cutters and other implements.
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android