The seized cash and jewellery. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

Cash and jewellery worth Rs 38 lakh, stolen from several flats by a single gang over a year, were recovered in overnight raids on Saturday.

Four members of the gang, which uses eunuchs as informers and has links in Bangladesh, were arrested. Sona Das, Shahid Ali Mollah, Sheikh Appu and Gopal Das had been held earlier for theft, police said.

According to South 24-Parganas police superintendent Praveen Kumar, the arrests, in Bishnupur and Jadavpur, will help crack more than 30 burglary cases in and around Calcutta.

“We are now looking for two eunuchs — Kabutari and Popi. They played a key role in the burglaries,” said Kumar.

Flooded with complaints of theft from Southern Avenue, Regent Park, Jadavpur and Behala, the district police had formed a team under additional superintendent D.P. Singh a week ago to track down the culprits.

Success came with Ali’s arrest. He revealed the whereabouts of his accomplices.

“A group of eunuchs used to tip off the gang. They visited houses and flats during weddings and after childbirth, as is the custom, and passed on information about the family’s financial status and the layout of the rooms,” said Kumar.

Kabutari and Popi had access to the houses of well-off families. They had allegedly informed the burglars about the daily routine of the family members.

The burglars did another round of homework before mounting an operation. “They mostly stole when the flat or house was empty,” said an investigator.

Almost all the burglaries were committed in the afternoon. The gang had sneaked into only one flat at night when its occupants were on vacation.

The eunuchs bought the stolen ornaments at half the price. They used to sell the jewellery at shops by saying they were gifts from clients.

The policemen visited a eunuch settlement in Bishnupur on Sunday morning but could not question the suspects because of resistance.

While all the four arrested are from the city, some of their accomplices are at large in Bangladesh, the investigators said.

“We have rarely seized so many stolen items from a single gang. The value of the loot as well as the style of operation of the gang surprised us,” said Kumar.