THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the city police still scouts across Tamil Nadu with the blurred images of masked robbers that terrorised Nemom a few months back, local residents have joined hands to strengthen the neighbourhood watch initiatives ahead of Onam.
In November last year and in June this year, three to four robbers had broken into more than half a dozen houses ,brandished knives and stolen ornaments. The same gang struck around 20 houses in Kollam and some others in Neyyatinkara at around the same time.
“Though the victims said that the burglars wore shorts, we got some of the CCTV footage at Neyyatinkara as they left the place after stealing gold weighing 28 sovereigns. They were wearing dhotis tucked up like shorts and knives were tucked into their lungis. The style and places they chose to strike convinced us that they were robbers from Tamil Nadu,” said Nemom CI S Ajai Kumar.
There were clear indications of them sneaking in through Punaloor in Kollam, besides, Neyyatinkara is also located close to Tamil Nadu’s borders.
The policemen of Nagercoil and Tirunelveli, though were familiar with this modus operandi could not identify this particular gang of Nemom. Hence now jails officials across Tamil Nadu are being approached to identify them.
Meanwhile, starting last Thursday, many resident associations at Pappanamcode, Nemom areas have started to cooperate with patrol sorties and scouting around their neighbourhood.
“We are informing the police about any new person who is coming and going out of places where migrant workers stay. Since we are a suburb with vacant plots we could be more vulnerable to theft. Added to this, many residents hailing from other districts are expected to go out to their native places during Onam,” said a resident of Shivodayam temple area.
