TIRUCHY: The Ariyalur police on Thursday arrested five persons who broke open a house and decamped with 48 sovereigns of jewels.

It may be recalled that on February 14, miscreants decamped with 48 sovereign jewels, one kg of silver and Rs 1 lakh from the house of Vasantha (68) at Katchiperumal village near Udayarpalayam while she was away on her work.

The Udayarpalayam police registered a case, and three teams were formed to nab the culprits. The team conducted an elaborate search operation leading to Shanmuganathan (27) and Manikalai (29) of Sivaganga, Azhagupandi (24) of Sivakasi, Dhanasingh (22) of Ramanathapuram and Venkatesan (24) of Thoothukudi involved in the offence.

In the late hours of Wednesday, the police arrested all the five accused in Madurai and brought them back to Ariyalur on Thursday. The police recovered 37 sovereign gold, 430 grams of silver and Rs 40,000 from them. They also seized a car and mobile phones from them.