Kochi: The interrogation of three arrested members of the armed gang which looted a house at Eroor in Kochi has revealed that the mastermind behind the robbery was Noorkhan, a Delhi resident, who is suspected to have escaped to Bangladesh.
A special squad of the Kerala police will go to West Bengal to nab the remaining eight members of the gang believed to be hiding on the West Bengal-Bangladesh border.
It was Noorkhan who directed the ten other accused to reach Kochi to commit burglaries in the city in December, sources said.
"For the last one month, a large police team was after them. Our job got tougher since the gang members dispersed and fled in different directions. They had also destroyed most of their SIM cards. However, we managed to track Arshad and two others. We got some leads on their interrogation and have intensified the search," said a senior police officer leading the investigation.
The accused used to get together once in a while and the gang travelled to far-off places to commit big burglaries after proper monitoring and marking of the victims. They then share the loot and disperse to various places to trick cops, the officer said.
The arrested trio will be questioned again after they are brought to Kochi on Sunday. Thereafter, a squad led by Mr P.S. Shiju, Hill Palace Circle Inspector, will be sent to nab the other accused.
Two of the arrested, mastermind Arshad, 20, and Roni, 24, are Bangladeshi natives and the cops suspect more accused in the gang to be hiding in the border areas of West Bengal. Another member Shehsad, 30, was also held from a slum in north- east Delhi on Wednesday.
An armed gang had struck at an isolated house in Eroor near Trippunithura on December 16. After brutally assaulting the members of the house, the robbers looted 50 sovereigns of gold, Rs 24, 000 in cash and mobile phones.
