Bhubaneswar: A special squad of Commissionerate Police here has arrested two members of an ‘apartment lootera gang’. The vehicle used in the crime, Rs 2 lakh in cash and mobile phones have been seized from them, Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh told a presser on Thursday.
“This pertains to a loot incident at Nirupama Apartment in Nayapalli on December 23 when miscreants decamped with Rs 13 lakh. Following which, Nayapalli police followed video clue and identified some persons,” he said.
The DCP further said they are part of an inter-state gang of over 20 members, who target locked houses with no iron grills in apartments, where security is not adequate, in groups of 3-4 each. “They are mostly from Gujarat and Haryana. They come in vehicles without number plate and enter random apartments. This gang is active in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. Some members were also arrested in Gujarat earlier. Our men are in touch with their counterparts in other state to crack such cases,” he said.
Singh said that they are expert burglars and rob houses within 10 minutes after breaking into it. Investigation is underway to ascertain involvement of those arrested in other loot incidents in the city, he said, adding that they prime suspects in another loot incident, which took place at Nayapalli last year.
Notably, armed miscreants executed a series of robberies at a guarded apartment in Infocity area in October last year and stole household items worth more than Rs 40 lakh from four vacant flats on different floors. A month later, a burglars’ gang targeted five flats of an apartment in Gadakana area. One of the flat owners, Rajesh Pahadi, in his complaint stated that the miscreants had broken open the locker his steel almirah and taken away jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh besides Rs 1 lakh in cash.
On November 25, 2022, eight armed dacoits looted cash and jewellery worth over Rs 6 lakh from a house at Raghunathpur in Nandankanan area here after tying up the family members with ropes and locking them in their bathroom.
