The Thane police has arrested four men accused of carrying out burglaries at seven houses located in the district and Mumbai and 21 temples in Karnataka.

The police has recovered 22 kilograms of silver and 75 grams of gold from members of the gang. The police also arrested their alleged accomplice, local gold dealer Vishal Ponke (21), who helped them sell the stolen gold and silver. The accused were handed over to the Mangalore police.

The thieves were arrested at Vartak Nagar in Thane after the police received a tip that they were planning a burglary at a local jewellery shop. The arrested accused have been identified as Chandrakanth Poojary (36), a resident of Honnavar Taluk; Narasimha Raju (38), a resident of Bengaluru; Naveen Chandra Ban Singh (21), a resident of Thane; and Vijay Suresh Bonsle (35), a resident of Lokmanya Nagar, Thane, along with Ponke.

Speaking about the thieves’ modus operandi, a Thane crime branch official said, “During interrogation we came to know about their other thievery cases in temples. We have recovered 22 kilograms of silver and 75 grams of gold, which are worth '12.5 lakh in total.”

The official added, “The accused had sold gold worth more than '25 lakh to different jewellers in Mumbai and outside Maharashtra. In the city, they sold gold to Vishal, who is a gold dealer and retailer. We laid a trap and arrested him too.”

According to police officers, there have been seven house-breaking cases registered against the four thieves in Mumbai and in Thane.

Some of the 21 temples burgled by the four accused include Shri Panchalingeshwara Temple, Shri Durgaparameshwari Temple, Shri Vishnu Murthy Temple, Shri Umamaheshwari Temple, Shri Nanthapadmanabha Temple, Shri Ulalthi Ammanavara Temple, Shri Mahalingeshwara Temple, Shri Durgaparameshwari Temple in Adyapadi and the Shri Subramanya Temple in Thookuru, the police sources added.