Narrow miss for burglars as app alerts homeowner to break-in
A burglary victim has told how he discovered two men were breaking into his house through a mobile phone app.
Akmal Anayat contacted police who rushed to the scene but narrowly missed the culprits.
The brazen burglars were captured in clear CCTV footage breaking into the Netherton home on Marriott Road on June 16 at 8.40pm.
Watch the footage here:
They stole stole £400 in cash, a £250 gold ring, a passport and some keys.
Mr Anayat said: "I was shocked to see the intruders breaking into my home. It was the second time that it has happened.
"I was out with my family near Bridgnorth - and we had been out for a few hours - when I had an alert on my phone.
"I could see them on my phone from my camera and I contacted police.
"The police missed them by seconds as they mistakenly went to a house a few doors up."
Mr Anayat had a camera installed in his back garden which captured the intruders breaking into a window - all while unknowingly they were being filmed. One man was seen climbing in through the window while a second man disappears down a side alley.
Cameras at his home fed live footage to his mobile phone through an app called Arlo.
Wedding gift
He said one man ransacked his home in search for gold and cash while the other acted as a look out, and everything was on the floor when he returned home.
The stolen gold ring was meant to be a wedding gift bought for his cousin who is getting married.
Mr Anayat had planned to give it her only a day before.
Footage of the break-in has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times online amid a police appeal to trace the suspects.
Mr Anayat is unsure why he was targeted and does not know how the burglars knew he and his family weren't home. He lives there with his wife and two children.
He said: "I guess after they were in our neighbour's garden. They waited to see if there was any movement in our house and realised it was empty."
A police spokesman confirmed officers are investigating the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting crime reference number 20DY/142766Y/19
