Mumbai: Thieves dig 25-foot tunnel into bank

Mumbai: A daring heist has been uncovered where a group of burglars dug a 25-foot-long tunnel from within a shop they had rented in May into the locker room of the Bank of Baroda’s Juinagar branch, decamping with loot worth crores. The crime was discovered on Monday morning. Of the 224 lockers in the bank, 30 were found broken. There was no CCTV inside the bank, according to the police.   Stating that the value of the stolen property is yet to be ascertained, Navi Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale said, “We have some leads.”

The accused used to sell ‘farsan’ at the shop, but it was closed most of time. The tunnel was three-feet-wide, allowing two persons to easily crawl through. According to the police, the accused used plywood and bamboo for support. The accused had apparently filled gunny sacks with the loosened soil and disposed of them during the nighttime. Recounting how the crime came to light, victim Rupali Adagale, who visited the bank on Monday morning to get her jewellery from her locker said, “I tried to open the door to the lockers, but it wouldn’t yield. Then a bank officer and I pried it open. Inside we saw that a few lockers were open and many locks were lying broken on the ground. The police were called immediately. I was so shocked, could not hold back my tears.”