VALPOI: Valpoi police have arrested three persons from Karapur Tisk in Sankhali after locals caught them allegedly attempting to steal copper utensils at Poriem in Sattari on Friday night.
The accused, Kamlesh Gurav (22), Pavan Naik (28) and Vijay Bhosale (26), were produced before the Judicial Magistrate First Class at Valpoi, who remanded them to two days of police custody.
Acting on information gathered during the investigation, police also searched a scrapyard in Karapur and seized property suspected to be linked to the thefts.
According to details emerging during the investigation, the thefts may have started around the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The incidents reportedly began in the Chorla area of Karnataka before spreading to several locations in Goa, including Surla, Zarme, Dabe, Nagargao, Saleli and Guleli in Sattari taluka.
Copper utensils are commonly used for the traditional preparation of cashew liquor during the cashew season. With copper fetching a good price in the market, investigators suspect that the accused may have been targeting the utensils for their scrap value.
Following a spate of thefts, police had intensified their investigation over the preceding eight days to identify the suspects.
On Friday night, some residents of Poriem noticed an alleged attempt to steal copper utensils from houses in the area. They promptly caught the three suspects and alerted Valpoi police.
A police team rushed to the spot, took the suspects into custody and brought them to the police station for questioning.
Police suspect that the stolen copper pots were transported to a scrapyard in the Karapur–Sankhali area, where they may have been melted down for resale.
Acting on information obtained during questioning, police inspected the premises and seized property. Investigators are now verifying whether the recovered items are connected to theft complaints registered in different villages.
