The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) has caught a 34-year-old man, Karma, for a burglary case in Thimphu on November 10. He was caught by RBP in a similar case earlier too.
Karma is from Gangtay, Wangduephodrang and his wife runs a pan shop. He is currently unemployed.
On November 2, Motithang Community Police Center (CPC) received a complaint of residential burglary near the Royal Thai Consulate office, Thimphu where a safe box was stolen.
Police said that, as per the complainant, the safe box contained a red coral necklace, 2 gold bracelets (6 tolas each), 1 gold chain (6 tolas), a pair of gold rings (1 tola each), 220 numbers of silver coins (Betam and Dayang) and USD 6000.
The incident occurred in between 26 October – 2 November 2015, while the complainant and her family were away.
Police said that they found a huge sum of cash and valuables worth Nu 3 mn approximately from Karma’s residence. Upon the interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime and further revealed that he sold some items to a merchant in Jaigoan, India.
Based on the confession, RBP conducted a search on Prakash Tikar, 31, from Tsirang, who was is suspected as an accomplice. One gold chain weighing 6 tolas was recovered from his house. He is a goldsmith in Thimphu.
The suspect Prakash Tikar was arrested after he confessed to buying two gold bracelets at Nu 320,000 from the suspect Karma.
As per the statement made to RBP, Prakash Tikar had melted the gold bracelet into gold biscuit and sold it to a goldsmith in Phuentsholing for Nu.350,000 and pocketing a profit of Nu 30,000. A gold biscuit-weighed approximately 10 tolas was later recovered from the goldsmith store in Phuentsholing.
Also on further investigation, suspect Karma confessed of committing two other burglaries in Babesa. In three burglaries, the suspect has stolen items worth Nu 5 mn approximately. Police has recovered properties worth Nu 3 mn including some amount of cash. Some of the items recovered by the police belong to the complainant at Babesa.
Further, it was found that the suspect Karma had recently bought a car, Hyundai I10 Grand for Nu 700.000 which was paid in cash and the latest I phone 6 Plus which is disproportionate to his source of income. The phone and vehicle have been seized for further investigation.
The RBP cautioned the public about buying any items at cheaper rates as it could be stolen items. The possession of any stolen property is penal offence and punishable under Section 255 of the Penal Code of Bhutan, 2004.
The case is still under investigation and it is likely that the suspect was involved in many similar cases in and around Thimphu.
In a separate case on November 18, between 8:15 to 9:45 hrs, one flat in Changzamtog was robbed of a blue suitcase containing USD 11,000, Euro 3,000 and other mixed denomination of dollars.
The blue suitcase was found thrown at the entrance of a building above Deki School, Changzamtog on November 19, at around 9 pm. Police immediately went to the scene of crime and recovered the blue suitcase.
Police said that since the suitcase was locked with a safety code, the burglar could not open the suitcase. Therefore, everything was found intact inside the suitcase. The suitcase with all the recovered items were handed over to the owner, Tenzin Choeda, and the burglar is still at large and police are following up on the case.
