Burglars tunnel through concrete wall, make off with jeweller’s 350kg vault

AGRA: In a heist straight out of a movie, burglars tunnelled through a concrete wall into a jeweller’s shop and made off with a 350kg vault containing an unspecified amount of cash, on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The incident took place in a market in Saiyan area of Kheragarh tehsil, 25 km from Agra city. This is the second break-in into the bullion trader’s shop in a year-and-half.In April, 2015, burglars had taken the high road, breaking through the roof and making off with 4kg in gold and silver.
Saiyan is on the NH-44, which connects Agra with Rajasthan’s Dholpur district. Sonu Verma, the jeweler who owns the shop, discovered the heist when his employees opened the place for business on Sunday.
“We found that the vault where we keep cash, as well as some jewellery in the shop, was missing. There was a 4-foot wide hole dug through the concrete wall at the rear of the shop,” Verma told TOI.
The burglars, he said, appear to have dug through the wall and made off with the loot through the night, without arousing any suspicion in the area. What has struck both the owner and investigators is the missing vault, and how it was moved off.
“That vault weighs more than 350 kg. It would have taken at least four men just to move it, leave alone cart it away. The gang appears to have dragged it back out of the hole before transporting it in some manner,” said Verma.
In total, according to the police, Verma has told them that 5kg of silver and 50gm of gold were taken from the shop, besides an unspecified amount of money in the vault.
While investigators are looking for clues to explain how the heist was carried out, locals, including businessmen who have been shocked at the burglars’ ingenuity, have their own theories about how the vault was carried off.
“Verma’s shop is located along the railway track that runs past the market. The burglars must have used some kind of trolley mounted on the track to quickly move the vault after bringing it out of the shop,” said Raghvendra Soni, a Saiyan businessman.
This is the second time in a year-and-half that Verma’s establishment has been targeted by ingenious thieves. In April 2015, burglars had alleged broken through from the roof of the shop and decamped with more than 4 kg of gold and jewellery.
After the incident, local businessmen called for an indefinite bandh in support of Verma and shut down all the shops in the market.
According to police, a search operation has been launched and the entire area has been cordoned off. “We have filed an FIR in the matter against unknown persons and will soon arrest the culprits,” said station officer of Saiyan, Neeraj Sharma.