Malappuram: The police have arrested three people, who stole gold ornaments from a passenger of a KSRTC bus at Edappal on Saturday. Nisar alias Joy (50), Nellikkal Noufal (34) of Palluruthy in Ernakulam and Naleri Jayanand alias Babu (61) of Poyilkkavu, Koyilandi were apprehended for the theft. Police said the trio was pickpockets who operated in Kuttippuram.
They stole the gold ornaments from Jibin, an employee of a wholesale gold ornament production firm at Thrissur. He transporting 1,512 gm of ornaments ito a shop in Tirur.
Police said the robbers boarded the bus from Valancheri while Jibin got on the bus from Kuttippuram. As the bus was full, he was standing till Edappal, a travel usually takes around 15 minutes.
To his shock, Jibin realised that the gold was stolen when the bus reached Edappal. “We checked various CCTV visuals to get some clues about the theft. We also spread our investigation to other cities in the state. The trio did not know that Jibin was carrying gold. It does not look like a planned robbery, but we will investigate thoroughly," Tirur DySP E Balakrishnan said. "The police have recovered 724 gm of gold from the culprits and also seized Rs 23.89 lakh they got by selling some of the ornaments," he added.
Police identified the three from the CCTV footage from Edappal. Since they were habitual criminals, cops could zero in on them quickly. They were captured from various parts of the Malappuram district.
Nidhin, the owner of the wholesale gold firm, said he never expected a breakthrough in such a short time. He said he had faith in his employee Jibin and the police.
The investigating teams from Perumbadappu, Kuttippuram and Changaramkulam police stations carried out the probe.