Bhubaneswar, Feb. 17: A series of early-morning burglaries in shops and business establishments in the city have made the traders feel insecure.

In most cases, the burglars are targeting posh and busy areas in the city and the latest incident has been reported from Saheed Nagar.

Early in the morning yesterday, six persons broke into a computer shop and fled with 27 laptops worth more than Rs 10 lakh.

Footage of the burglary has been captured by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the shop. Police have not made any arrests, but detained the shop’s security guard. The incident took place shortly after the guard left the shop after duty hours.

On February 12, robbers broke the shutter of a mobile phone shop in the same locality and escaped with gadgets worth more than Rs 12 lakh. This incident also occurred in the early hours of the morning.

Frequent incidents such as these have made the local businessmen fearful. “The police say they are carrying out patrolling in the city, but it seems to have no impact on the criminals. Our business establishments are not safe despite being in the heart of the city and close to the office of the deputy commissioner of police (DCP),” said Anurag Gupta, a businessman.

The city has witnessed a spurt in burglary in the past few days. In the past 15 days, at least six major cases have been reported from across the city. Sources said all these incidents occurred early in the morning when the police patrolling slackens.

A police source said that earlier, patrolling had been intensified in the city because incidents of chain snatching from morning walkers had gone up. But once the frequency of such crimes went down, patrolling got relaxed. Consequently, the criminals are taking their chances.

As duty shift of cops change during this time, burglars get an opportunity to act.

Alok Jena, inspector in charge of Saheed Nagar police station, said those involved in yesterday’s burglary were not from the city. “We are conducting raids at various places and the goons will be arrested very soon,” said Jena.

Senior police officials also indicated that early morning patrolling would be intensified in the city.