The Metropolitan Crime Division has busted a gang involved in burglarising various jewelry shops in Kathmandu Valley.
A team from the division has arrested three of the five members involved in a string of jewelry shop heists in the last two days.
The gang had been breaking into jewelry shops in various parts of Valley for some months now.

On March 21, they struck a jewelry shop in Lazimpat and made off with more than 1 kg gold, over 8kg silver and cash.

The division had mobilised a special team to capture this notorious band of jewel thieves. Three of the five gang members were arrested in the last two days. They have been identified as Buddha Bahadur Majhi, 45 of Mahottari while Ganga Bahadur Tamang, 37 and Janga Bahadur Majhi 49 of Udayapur. Ganga Bahadur and Buddha Bahadur were arrested from Morang on Sunday while Janga Bahadur was captured from Durbarmarg, Kathmandu, on Monday.

“The gang used to visit the burglary site in the day posing as scrap collectors to survey the area. They mostly broke into shops located in areas with little to no mobility of people at night,” said SP Ishwar Karki of the division.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the five men had met one another in prison and concocted the plan of robbing jewelry shops in the Valley. Two other suspects are at large.

“During interrogation, it was revealed that the gang leader has already fled to India and sold off the stolen gold and silver items,” said Karki. “We are after the other two suspects. Investigation is also underway to find out if the gang was involved in other incidents of robbery.”

According to the data provided by the Metropolitan Police Office, during the three months of lockdown, between March 14 to July 15, there had been 64 cases related to theft.
However, the number of theft and robbery cases during the lockdown have declined compared to the three months preceding the lockdown. A total of 205 cases were recorded three months before the lockdown.
SSP Sushil Kumar Yadav, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Office Ranipokhari, said the same groups and persons previously jailed for burglaries tend to commit the crime again.

“A majority of the burglars turn out to be repeat offenders. They usually fall back to their crime due to lenient punishment,” said Yadav.