Team Herald
PANJIM: The middle-aged coconut plucker from Benaulim and his 20-year-old college student accomplice who were arrested last week, have confessed to a string of burglaries across North Goa – 19, to be exact – said the Porvorim police on Friday. The police have recovered 500 grams of gold from 44-year-old Maria alias Mario Baptista, and have also apprehended two more individuals involved in the organised crime.
Addressing a press conference, North Goa Superintendent of Police Akshat Kaushal said, “For the last six months, we noticed a pattern in house burglaries committed by masked men. In this regard, cases were registered at various police stations across Goa. Last week, Porvorim police arrested Maria alias Mario Baptista from Benaulim, who has several robbery cases registered against him, and 20-year-old
Mohammad Sufiyan from
Calconda.” The youth is reportedly a BCom student.
“During the investigation, it was revealed that they had committed a large number of burglaries. They also confessed to handing over all the stolen ornaments to one Philip Rato from Benaulim. Rato would sell the stolen items to a goldsmith identified as Samar Pal. Both have been arrested,” he said.
Kaushal stated that the investigation revealed the burglars used to wear masks and generally targeted houses with sliding doors that lacked grills.
The SP added, “During the investigation, we recovered around 500 grams of stolen gold jewellery.”
He said that with the arrest of the accused, a total of 19 burglary cases registered at various police stations have been solved.
The number of cases solved includes: 4 at Porvorim Police Station, 4 at Panaji Police Station, 2 at
Agasaim Police Station, one at Mapusa Police Station, 2 at Anjuna Police Station, 5 at Ponda Police Station, and 1 at Old Goa Police Station, he said.