CHENNAI: Three men were arrested on Thursday for allegedly robbing 1.4 kg of gold bars from a jewellery workshop in Chennai after threatening the owner and employees at knifepoint on Wednesday.
According to police, the incident took place at a jewellery workshop on Mint Street owned by Ankit Dilip Mora (29), a resident of Parry's Corner. The workshop had melted gold into bars weighing about 1.4 kg, which had been kept on the premises.
Police said three armed men entered the workshop, threatened the owner and workers with knives, assaulted them and fled with the gold bars.
Hearing the victims' cries for help, local residents chased the suspects and caught one of them, who was handed over to the Elephant Gate police. The remaining two escaped with the stolen gold.
Based on information provided by the arrested suspect, police later apprehended the other two. The arrested were identified as Lokesh (23) Ramana alias Heram (24) of Elephant Gate and Arumugam alias Arul (22) of Tiruchy. The entire 1.4 kg of stolen gold bars was recovered from them.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had allegedly planned the robbery using information provided by some employees of the jewellery workshop. Police are continuing their probe to identify the insider who may have leaked details about the gold.
All three accused have been remanded to judicial custody, while further investigation is under way.