Mangaluru, November 25: Konaje police in a brisk operation were successful tracing the items that were burgled from Our Lady of Mercy church, Fajir. Police recovered the stolen goods on Tuesday evening.
The theft took place in the church on the night of Monday November 23rd. The thieves broke into the newly built church by breaking the bolt of the huge door to the eastern side of the church. They had decamped with a laptop, a tabernacle worth Rs 25,000, ciborium containing a set of nine utensils worth Rs 18,000, and other items worth around 35,000. The total worth of stolen items was estimated at Rs 70,000.
The images of theft were captured on CCTV cameras installed in the church, but pictures were unclear. One of the thieves had covered himself with cloth, while the other person was wearing a T-shirt but was not wearing mask. Some of the stolen items had gold coating. Hence, it is believed that the thieves stolen the above items believing them to be made of gold. Thieves did not touch some silver items found inside the church, it is learnt.
Priest of the church, Fr Valerian Pinto, informed that the thieves had not caused any damage inside the church.
On Tuesday evening, the stolen items were found inside the bushes close to an abandoned, dilapidated house near Aladka in Harekala village.
Bishop of Mangalore, Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza, had visited the church immediately after hearing about the theft, and offered prayers.
Further investigations are on to trace the thieves.
