The great jewellery robbery of 2007 bangaluru

The great jewellery robbery 

Thieves Walk Away With 30 Kg Of Gold Ornaments in Kammanahalli Heist

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: This is the biggest jewellery robbery Bangalore has seen — a daring heist in the morning and right in the middle of a busy area. Loot was worth a jaw-dropping Rs 4 crore.
    It is 10.45 am on Saturday. The Chemmanur Jewellery Showroom in the busy Kammanahalli area is partially open. Keeping one shutter open, nine employees, including four women, begin arranging the jewel display boxes to open the showroom at 11 am. The employees obviously are not expecting any customers and they go about their work quietly.
    What unfolds soon is the stuff of the movies. A man enters through the open shutter and points a gun at them. His other five associates follow him with pistols in their hands. Before the shocked staff could react, the robbers force the employees into the locker room and snatch their mobile phones. Holding a gun, one stands guard at the locker room door, while the other five grab all the gold jewellery in the showroom, conversing in four languages —Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and English — all the time. Surprisingly, the robbers don’t close the shutter door, nor do they touch silver articles.
    Before leaving the place, the gang damages the four closed-circuit TV cameras. Taking the booty — over 30 kg of gold jewels and Rs 3 lakh in cash — they flee in a grey Indica car.
    The operation which began at 10.45 am lasted just over 20 minutes. The CCTVs have captured the entire crime, up to the point of they being damaged. The employees alerted their bosses and the police. Since the robbers were not wearing gloves, forensic experts have lifted fingerprint samples.
    Joint commissioner of police (crime) Gopal B Hosur said these were major clues and would help in nabbing the culprits soon.
    The CCTV, which the Sunday Times of India saw, showed that the robbers did not have any signs of urgency or tension while executing the crime. Through the open shutter, which was not shut, the movement of people on the road can be seen. GONE IN 20 MINUTES: The photo-grab from the CCTV cameras inside the jewellery store in Kammanahalli where the robbers struck on Saturday morning. One of the robbers can be seen flashing a gun
    Hosur said, “It is a pre-planned attack. Their casual approach shows they are professionals. They might have visited the place several times and studied the situation. They have gathered details about how the showroom operates, the security system and the employee strength, and have struck. But we are not yet sure, whether the weapons were real.”
    Chemmanur Jewellery GM Radhakrishnan said: “This is one of our main showrooms. We’ve a good security system, both men and gadgets. But the incident occurred when the security men were changing shifts. Employees could not do much as the robbers were flashing guns.”
    He said the showroom will be opened on Sunday. Of the 18 showrooms the Chemmanur Jewellers have in the state, seven are in Bangalore. 

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