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Star theft
 Recently, several thefts were reported in
leading star hotels in Chennai. Laptops and cash were stolen from locked rooms of
Hotel Chola, Aruna Inn and Hotel Raddisson.
The security experts in all these star hotels
are usually very vigilant and it is not easy for any individual to enter the premises and involve in criminal acts. But the criminals
had cleverly executed the thefts, overriding all security aspects.
When police had visited and examined the scene of crime, it was found that the locks
had not been broken. Naturally, police at first inferred that the criminals
probably used false keys to open the rooms for committing the crimes.
But all these star hotels have card system to open
locks so that one cannot open these rooms with the help of false keys. So.
police were confused about how the criminals had opened the rooms without breaking the lock.
Was it the act of professional criminals working in the hotel? Police had ruled out the involvement of the workers of these hotels as these crimes
occurred consistently in five star hotels.
When an offence was committed at
Hotel Chola, police picked up an important clue about the criminals. One of the room boys
had told the police that he found someone struggling to open the room with the help of
a card. So he had helped the man open the door by getting a duplicate card from the reception. When the
police asked him why he did not suspect a man who was unable to room, the room
boy replied that he was a regular customer.
So, police finally inferred that the crime was not committed by
professional criminals but a person who used to stay regularly in star hotels.
With the information about the identity given by the
room boy, police arrested two persons from Maharashtra and several stolen laptops and
a lot of cash recovered from them.
But how did these criminals get the card
to open the rooms? During police interrogation, the criminals revealed their clever
ploy: they would stay in a star hotel and make a duplicate of the card for their
room.
Immediately after that, they would once again come to the same hotel and
take up any room other than the one where they stayed earlier.
After keeping the 'old room'
under surveillancee, they would open it at an opportune moment with the
duplicate card they had made earlier. This gave them an easy way to decamp with cash and other valuables.
 At Chola hotel, the duplicate card, which they
had prepared, had not worked well and it was then that the room boy got the other card from the reception.
A few years ago, a criminal
from Andhra Pradesh, Narasimma Reddy, had followed the same tactics and targeted many lodges
and some star hotels. He was nabbed after he had committed a similar offence at Dasaprakash
Hotel, Chennai, another star hotel.
It is common knowledge that locked houses are not safe as
criminals may target them at any time. But we must also understand that even locked rooms in lodges, including
star hotels, are not always safe.
One should avoid keeping cash and valuables inside the locked rooms of hotels and lodges. It is better
to take the money and valuables with oneself while going out of the lodge or
hotel.
Harvey
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