It was meant to be a Rs 34 crore heist wherein thieves stole cash from a private bank's vault in Thane district and dropped the cash stuffed bags down the AC duct, but they could decamp with only Rs 12.20 crore, and within days of the crime three men were arrested, police said.

The main accused, the vault custodian, involved in the crime that took place at the Manpada branch of the bank in Dombivli is on the run along with others. Based on a tip-off, sleuths of the Thane crime branch's property cell laid a trap and nabbed Israr Abrar Hussain Qureshi (33), Shamshad Ahmed Riaz Ahmed Khan (33) and Anuj Premshankar Giri (30) from Mumbra in Thane district on Monday morning, senior police inspector Anil Honrao said in a release. The police recovered from them Rs 5.80 crore out of the stolen cash and property worth Rs 10 lakh, he said.