65-year-old Thomas Lobo from Arsulim-Benaulim has not stopped knocking the doors of the Colva police station since January 23 this year “ the day when the police went to town with a major breakthrough in the spate of burglaries along the coastal belt. The arrest of Mario and Ryan in this regard had raised hopes amongst the dozens of victims, including Thomas, that the day is not too far when they might finally recover their stolen valuables. However, 22 days later, Thomas and many other victims are ostensibly keeping their fingers crossed. For, the police have not been successful in cracking the burglaries and recovering the gold ornaments from the accused.
“On two occasions, we called on Colva PI Braz Menezes, and he has assured us that the police are doing its best to get the case detected,” Thomas said.
Like Thomas, many other victims have made repeated rounds of the Colva police station since January 23, but in vain. They have only received assurances and reassurances that the police are leaving no stone unturned to recover the stolen valuables.
The ground reality, however, is different. Other than the recovery of the gold ornaments and cash belonging to the UK national, Colva police have not made any additional recovery till date.
“The police have managed to match the fingerprints of the accused in 2-3 other cases. We are probing these cases,” commented Colva PI Braz Menezes, when queried whether the police have cracked any other burglary reported within the Colva police jurisdiction. Sources in the police headquarters revealed the men-in-khaki are indeed facing an uphill task to recover, identify and return the valuables to the victims. Moreover, while the accused is alleged to have splurged the cash playing at casinos, sources say that identification of gold ornaments will be a nightmare when the same is recovered either in melted or other forms.
District police chief, SP Shekar Prabhudesai, when contacted, informed The Goan that Colva police is trying its best to take investigations to its logical conclusion.
While the accused, Mario, is presently in the custody of Margao police in connection with a Navelim burglary, the two goldsmiths arrested in the case are out on bail. The two goldsmiths, who are wanted in another burglary case for accepting stolen property, have moved the court for anticipatory bail, which has been opposed by Colva police tooth and nail.
PI Menezes disclosed that the police have moved the bank to freeze the accounts of the middleman from Margao, Domingo Diniz, who was charged by the police for allegedly receiving the stolen booty.
“We are investigating into the cash deposits as well as hard cash found in possession of Diniz. We have already frozen his bank account as part of the investigations,” PI Menezes said.
While the police are going about their investigations into the 50-odd burglaries that hit the coastal belt over the last two years, many a victim are keeping their fingers crossed whether the men-in-uniform will manage to recover the huge booty believed to be over ` 1.5 crore.
