VIJAYAWADA: The Satyanarayanapuram police on Thursday arrested a person and seized gold jewellery weighing 1,008 grams from him. The booty was estimated at Rs. 8 lakhs.

Deputy Commissioner of Police U.V.S. Raju, at a press conference here, charged Sheik Nayab Rasool alias Kummari Raju alias Rasool, 33, a resident of Chenchupet in Tenali of Guntur district, with breaking into 23 houses in Satyanarayanapuram and surrounding areas and stealing gold jewellery weighing about 2 kg in the last five years.

Rasool, according to the police, used to select locked houses and enter them at night to steal valuables. His focus was on almirahs, which he used to break by keeping them in horizontal position. He was charged with committing burglaries in nine houses in Satyanarayanapuram, two in Lakshmi Nagar, three in Srinagar, six in Mutyalampadu and three in Teachers Colony.

Rasool, a rag picker in his childhood, was arrested first by the Secunderabad police when he was 19. The police then arrested him in connection with a theft in an iron scrap shop. Subsequently, he was arrested thrice in connection with similar offences and underwent imprisonment. After he was released from jail, Rasool went to Guntur and began a new life as a railway coolie.

Mr. Raju said Rasool resumed committing offences in 2002 and had chosen Satyanarayanapuram area in the city to commit burglaries. He used to come to the city during night and sleep in Satyanarayanapuram railway station. After waking up around 3 a.m., Rasool would complete his task by 5 a.m. and run away to Guntur with the booty. He was never arrested by the police in the last five years.

Mr. Raju said following a tip-off, the police arrested him at Satyanarayanapuram on Thursday morning when Rasool was trying to sell the booty. A case was registered.

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