more-in An amateur attempt to source oxyacetylene welding fuel on the sly blew the lid off a plot to burgle at least five cooperative society banks in the capital, according to the City police. They have arrested six youths in connection with the suspected conspiracy and attempted theft. They are Ajayan, Vinod, Vishnu, and Joy, all residents of Vizhinjam; and Shibu and Sooraj of Kasaragod. All are in the 22-28 age group. The police identified Vishnu as the prime suspect in the case. The 23-year-old youth is facing trial for helping a few government officials embezzle money from a sub-registrar office in the city by fabricating receipt books. They said the “plot” was hatched at a gymnasium in Vizhinjam where the youth trained together. Vishnu invited Shibu and Sooraj, whom he had met in prison, to join the conspiracy. Shadows, the plain-clothes squad of the City police, got wind of the plot when a trader called an operative to inform him that some youth had been scouting around for fuel used in gas cutters and blow torches. The police had been keeping a tab on the sale and refill of welding fuel ever since gas cutters were used to break into the vaults of two banks in the capital last year. They had issued a notice to welding-fuel traders to inform them about new customers. They “also routinely searched the background of those who legally purchased gas-cutter parts from hardware shops.” Investigators said the gang planned to break into cooperative banks that had no surveillance cameras or night watchmen. They planned to hit the cooperative bank at Koliyoor first. Three of the youth had no police record. The police described the plot as amateurish with a lot of ‘give aways.’ City Police Commissioner P. Prakash and Deputy Commissioner G. Jayadev oversaw the bust. The accused were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

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