LUCKNOW, Nov. 27 -- Out of the at least 20 cases of house theft that the city has reported between November 1 and 25, the burglars took advantage of surveillance gaps and the absence of occupants to target locked houses in several instances.

FIRs and police probes indicated that over a dozen major thefts took place in the said period. On November 8 and 18 each, four such cases were reported.

A trend emerging from November's crime log is the burglars' preference for locked premises, often chosen after short reconnaissance.

Whether it was houses in Manaknagar, Gudamba, Mohanlalganj, or the cluster of incidents cracked by PGI police, most victims were away when the crimes took place.

On November 25, four men arrived in a car in Manaknaga...