Four people were arrested, and eight laptops and an equal number of mobile phones were recovered from them. Two of the laptops were identified as those stolen from AE Block in April.

The police said mastermind Pratap Mondal (25) and the other — Ujjal Das, Shyam Sundar Biswas and Chinmoy Sutar — were arrested from different places in Rajarhat and Baguihati. “Mondol was a rickshawpuller in the blocks adjoining the Bagjola Canal.

He would roam outside houses and peep through windows and check for people working on laptops. The moment someone left their laptop unattended, he would steal them through the windows,” said Additional Superintendent of Police, Salt Lake, Ashok Biswas.

“Ujjal Das would buy the laptops for Rs 3,000 to 4,000 and sell them. Similarly, Shyam and Chinmoy were involved in stealing mobile phones and selling them to Ujjal,” ASP Biswas said.

Ujjal reportedly had a flair for handling electronic gadgets and knew people interested in buying such things.