Nizam Museum Heist: School dropouts behind burglary, had food in golden tiffin box

Hyderabad: School dropouts are involved in the Nizam Museum burglary which took place in the wee hours on September 3. A week after the burglary, the police caught hold of the thieves from Himayat Nagar along with the stolen items. 

The burglars identified as Mohammed Ghouse Pasha aka Khooni Ghouse (23) is a Class 7 dropout of Urdu medium school works as centring labour in Chintalmet of Rajendranagar. Another Mohammed Mubeen (24) is a Class 2 dropout works in a welding shop in Rajendranagar. Mubeen had gone to Saudi Arabia and worked for a brief period over there. The duo is childhood friends.

While Mubeen was new to the profession, Pasha was earlier involved in 15 thefts. After returning from Saudi, Mubeen visited the Museum and was highly captivated by the tiffin box, the cup and the saucer. He soon thought of stealing and selling them in Saudi making use of his contacts.

A week before the burglary, the duo visited the Museum two times and identified various spots in and around it and also observed the CCTV surveillance. 

On September 3, they sneaked into the Museum through a ventilator using a rope. They wore masks and gloves and fled with the items on a bike. After the theft, they hid the stolen items in an open space near Rajendra Nagar and tried to head to Mumbai to sell the items. 

According to police, the burglars regularly had food in the golden three-tier tiffin box which belonged to Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of Hyderabad.