Burglars decamped with 80 sovereigns of gold jewellery, four kilograms of silver objects and ₹3.5 lakh cash after drilling a hole in the wall of a pawn shop at Mambakkam village near Kalavai town in Ranipet on Wednesday.

Police said that it was around 9 a.m. when K. Murugan opened his pawn shop-cum-wholesale rice outlet. He found that gold and silver valuables and cash were missing from lockers in the shop. The CCTV camera inside the outlet was disconnected. 

As he went around the shop, he found a hole on the rear side of the shop. Immediately, he alerted Vazhapanthal police, who rushed to the spot.

Police said the burglars could have noticed that the shop was located in a remote area. New buildings are under construction on the rear side of the pawn shop. Such under-construction work would have helped burglars to go unnoticed, especially at night, making them drill a hole in the wall of the pawnshop.

Special police teams have been formed to nab the culprits. The police are analysing the footage of the CCTV cameras in the locality.