The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Thimphu Police along with the Samtse Police have apprehended 6 men, between 25 to 30 years of age. The four suspects were arrested in Samtse on 24 August while the remaining two suspects were arrested in Thimphu.
A gang of suspects had robbed a house near the Centenary Farmers’ Market, Thimphu on 26 July. The paper has learnt that it was a planned crime since they knew about the valuable belongings and cash amounting to Nu 15 million (mn) that the owner had. They committed the crime in four hours’ timeframe when the family was out for a dinner.
They stole four Dzees (cat-eye), other ornaments and Nu 2.7 mn in cash. The suspects had also stolen the whole safe box from the house.
Of the six suspects, 4 are ex-convicts charged with similar robberies in the past. Police said that the suspects had attempted to commit the crime several times, whereby they succeeded during their fourth attempt.
Samtse Police said that though the suspects had all the valuable items with them during the time of their arrest, they did not have the Dzees with them. Upon asking them, the suspects claimed that they lost all the Dzees while trying to escape from the police.
However, the police later found out that the three suspects swallowed the Dzees to conceal them from the police. One of the suspects had managed to swallow two of the Dzees, another suspect swallowed one Dzee, and one of them managed to swallow one Dzee along with one coral bead (Juru).
The truth came out when the police had taken the suspects to scan them through x-ray. Police recovered all the four Dzees as and when the suspects defecated. Police said that the four suspects from Samtse were escorted and kept in containment center at Chamgang for 7 days. Upon testing COVID-19 negative, they were taken for investigation.
They have confessed to the crime. The suspects claim that they were informed about the cash and valuables by an ex-employee of the victim.
It was learnt Nu 2.7 mn were divided equally among the 7 suspects. Police could recover just Nu 17,000 in their possession.
The police urge the public not to share about their personal belongings to anyone, and to store their belongings in safe lockers in the banks. Otherwise, they can attach their safe box to the wall to make it safer. Police have received three cases of burglaries where whole safe boxes were stolen.
Meanwhile, Thimphu Police with a help of Mongar Police have apprehended one 27-year-old man for his involvement in a series of burglaries. He is an ex-convict as well, and has served in prison from 2011 till 2017, for a similar case.
After his arrest, the police was able to solve 13 cases of burglaries in Thimphu. According to the police, the suspect steals only cash from shops, residences and office.
He was arrested with a help of CCTV footage while committing one of the crimes.
Thimphu Police along have reported 111 cases of burglaries in 2019 (January to August), 923 in 2020 (January to August) and 75 cases in 2021 as of August.
