iPhones, smart watches burgled from Ritchie street shops

CHENNAI: Police have launched a hunt for a trio who broke into at least five shops on Ritchie street area off Anna Salai, the city’s electronic goods hub, during the early hours of Friday and escaped with several lakhs worth gadgets.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the burglars had targeted only iPhones and smartphones. Police said that the burglars first broke into a shop in Nambi trades complex and then into two shops on Wallace road and two shops in Ritchie street. Apart from phones, smartwatches and phone accessories were also stolen from the shops.

A team from Chintadripet police station rushed to the scene on information and conducted preliminary investigations.

Police have recovered CCTV footage from the shops in which a youth, dressed in yellow tshirt and shorts and wearing a mask, could be seen spending considerable time in the shops, selecting his haul, before escaping.

Police have registered cases based on complaints from the shop owners. Police suspect role of insiders in the burglary as vendors regularly receive consignments from other cities in the first week of a month.