Burglar targets retd Colonel''s house, apologises

A burglar was full of remorse after 'mistakenly' targeting a retired military officer's residence

here that he wrote an apology on the wall, quoting a Biblical commandment.

The police, however, were not amused and have launched a search for him.

Police claimed nothing was found missing. The incident occurred on Tuesday night.

"Had I come to know that it was a military personnel's house, I would not have targeted it," he wrote, expressing his

respect for the Indian military. "I didn't know it was an Army man's residence.I came to

know only in the last moment when I saw the military cap. Apologies!" the thief wrote on the wall using a

marker, a police officer told PTI. The retired colonel and his family is out of station

for the past two-and-a-half months. A woman engaged by the family to clean the premises of

the house at Thiruvankulam near Thrippunithura found the doors broken open this morning and alerted police.

"I violated the seventh commandment..." a reference to the Biblical commandment "Thou shalt not steal" was another

phrase etched on the wall, police said. The burglar had earlier struck at a shop in the

neighbourhood. Police said they were investigating if more people

were involved in the break-ins.