Masked gang in double raid

Jewellery worth £20,000 taken in second break-in on same night

A VIOLENT armed gang who robbed a frail granny may have struck at another house on the same night. We told yesterday how Bilqis Begum Chaudhry, 69, was threatened with a knife while her home in Giffnock, south Glasgow, was ransacked. The masked thieves, armed with knives and a screwdriver, burst through the patio doors of her house in Rouken Glen Road at about 6pm on Monday and eventually made off with £4500 in cash and other valuables.

Yesterday, it emerged a house in nearby Paisley was also raided that night after patio doors were smashed.

Police are not ruling out that the crime is connected to the one in Giffnock.

No one was home during the second break-in, which happened in Ellon Way between 5.30pm and 9.30pm. The crooks ransacked the house and made off with more than £20,000 worth of jewellery and £7000 in cash.

Distraught Suraj Dhakal, 25, said: “All the jewellery my sister wore for her wedding is gone.

“My mum has been collecting the jewellery since she was 15.”

The heartless raiders even stole cash from Suraj’s 13-year-old sister’s purse.

He said: “My sister had pocket money, £40 or £50, in her purse and that is gone.

“My other sister had been saving money to get her car serviced and that’s gone too.”

Restaurant worker Suraj said when he heard the news about Bilqis’ ordeal he immediately thought there could be a link.

He added: “I think they were professionals. They left my laptop and phones – they were after the jewellery and the cash.”

Police are scouring CCTV images from the area in a bid to trace the raiders.

Detective Sergeant Nathan Calderwood, of Paisley CID, said: “Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone in the house at the time of the break-in.

“However, the jewellery stolen was wedding jewellery, including a traditional gold Asian wedding necklace, and so had significant sentimental value.”

Anyone with information should contact Paisley CID via 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Meanwhile, police rubbished reports that the raiders who terrorised Bilqis had a gun.