Gas cylinders now needs a security guard; Bengaluru’s recent cylinder heists

BENGALURU: While families across the city were busy preparing festive feasts for Ugadi, a pair of brazen "Gas-Snatchers" turned the celebration into a kitchen nightmare. In a shocking daylight robbery caught on camera, two helmet-clad crooks on a scooter raided a residence in Begur, south Bengaluru. The footage reveals a chillingly professional operation: while one stayed on the bike acting as a lookout, his accomplice slipped into the compound, hoisted two domestic LPG cylinders, and sped off in seconds.

The theft comes as Bengaluru is gripped by a severe cooking gas crisis. With geopolitical tensions in the Middle East strangling supply lines, LPG has become the city’s most "in-demand" contraband. Stolen cylinders are reportedly being flipped for massive profits as commercial supplies collapse. Desperate residents are ditching their gas stoves for electric induction cooktops, causing stocks to vanish from store shelves overnight.

The Begur Police have launched a manhunt for the duo, but they aren't the only ones. Similar "lifting" cases have been reported in Kalyan Nagar and Channapatna, suggesting a city-wide wave of "cylinder-snatching." It’s not just petty thieves getting in on the action, either. Earlier this week, the Thalaghattapura police busted a massive illegal racket, seizing 155 cylinders from a local godown. A gas agency owner has been booked under the Essential Commodities Act (ESMA) for hoarding "Blue Gold" while citizens struggle to boil a pot of water.