Stores are no longer safe as a gang has developed the expertise to sneak in through gaps in shutters. A Telegraph picture

They are teens, but can beat professionals.

Meet the new breed of juvenile criminals, whose modus operandi ? slipping underneath the shutters of closed shops and clearing out everything, from cell phones and designer saris to cash ? is giving city businessmen sleepless nights.

According to police records, the gang has robbed at least five retail outlets, leaving the cops stumped and the owners, groping in the dark. The last robbery was on July 30, at the crossing of Park Street and Loudon Street, yards away from police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee?s residence.

?The gang picks a shop that records high footfall. The members then visit it on reconnaissance. An access is generally gained by bending the portion of the main shutter between the two locks,? explained a senior officer of the detective department.

He added: ?Once inside, the teens look around to open up an escape route. If they manage to, they decamp with goods. Otherwise, they settle for cash.?

A section of the cops believes the teens have been hired by an organised gang and are using something as simple as a crowbar to bend the shutters.

?The members seem to be from Bihar, but we are not sure. We hope to make a breakthrough soon,? said Subrata Bannerjee, officer-in-charge of Gariahat police station.

In June, the gang had committed its first robbery in an electronics shop at the Gariahat crossing. Mobile phones worth about Rs 3 lakh were looted.

The next target was a sari shop on Bidhan Sarani. On June 25, the gang broke into the shop and walked away with goods worth around Rs 23,000. Before any progress was made in the investigations into the two robberies, the gang struck again on July 12, this time in a garment shop on Surya Sen Street. However, they could only take away Rs 2,000.

A robbery at the Loudon Street address followed. ?The gap between the shutter and the ground was so narrow that initially it seemed that the break-in attempt had failed. The owner, however, found cash missing,? said Gana Nath Mukherjee, officer-in-charge of Shakespeare Sarani thana.