Erattupeta: A gang which carried robberies using a stolen bike has kept the local police on its feet for hours quite literally.
The police sweated throughout the day in vain to nab the three member gang which had holed up in a rubber plantation. Earlier during the hot chase given by the cops the youths managed to enter the rubber plantation through narrow bylanes.
Even though they jumped in front of local residents while being on the run, they managed to give them a slip. The entire action series involving police-thieves chase began as early as 2am.
The bike thieves broke into a shop BC Times at Melukavumattom by breaking the locks at around 2am. But on seeing the security man on duty, they escaped from the place. However, they were caught in the CCTV camera installed in the area.
Subsequently they attempted burglary in Goodlook Mobiles in Pravithanam. Here too on seeing the headlights of a vehicle, they fled from the scene. Though the police control room vehicle from Pala spotted the thieves, they managed to give them a slip negotiating the bike through bylanes. At 6am the police got information that the thieves were seen near Kappad on the Kanjirappally - Erattupetta road. Soon a police party from Theedanadu carried out a search operation but could not track them. From Kakeetiyil the gang reached Kochukadavu, a dense plantation area along Erattupetta road around 6am. Here they abandoned the bike and entered the plantations.
Even though the youths were spotted by the locals near the plantations, it was only after police arrived at the spot at around 6:30am that they came to know that they were members of the robbery gang.
Bike stolen from railway station
The police have found that the bike used by the gang for the thefts was stolen from Kottayam railway station on September 29. The owner of the bike which bears a Thiruvananthapuram registration number, had lodged a complaint with the Kottayam East police station on the same day.
Only one phone was stolen from Melukavumattom shop. The hunt for the gang is still on.
Forensic experts took the fingerprint samples from the shops in Melukavumattom and Pravithanam. A massive search operation was carried out by 200 cops under the supervision of Pala DySP Saju Varghese , Pala SHO Anoop Jose, Errattupetta SHO Prasad Abraham Varghese, Theenadu SHO Cleetus Joseph, Ponkunnam SHO S Shihabuddin and Melukavu SI Lebimon.
Arduous search operation
The gang was spotted by local people at 9am near houses located in the plantation area at Cherani which is almost 6 km from Kochukavu. Though they found three unidentified youth walking through the lane near their houses, they never suspected them to be thieves.
The place has a huge rubber plantation area and massive pineapple cultivation. After coming to know about the presence of the thieves in the area, the police parties along with the local people cordoned off almost 40 acre area.
Carrying out search operations in the area is a tedious work considering the huge pineapple cultivation in the area. The police and locals began the search operations after closing all exit points from the 40 acre plantation.
At around 1:30pm the police deployed a drone to carry out a search in the area. However, the rubber trees and the blazing sun affected the drone operations considerably. Though the search using a drone was carried out till sunset, nobody could be traced. The police parties are containing the search operations on the roads and plantations in the entire area.
