Bhubaneswar: Five members of a highway robbers’ gang have been arrested from Jatni in Odisha’s Khurda district, Commissioner of Police Sanjeeb Panda informed on Thursday.
Addressing a presser, the CP said that the arrested looters led a lavish lifestyle, stayed in hotels and were active on social media platforms where they uploaded reels and videos. “They operated from Jatni and some of them are from Rourkela. Two among them were earlier engaged in chain-snatching incidents and they slowly inducted others into the gang,” he said.
The members of the ‘AA’ gang have been identified as Ayaz Mohammed (20), Debasis Barik (19) alias Debu, Sibaprasad Barik (23) alias Raja, Rajat Kumar Nanda (25) alias Rinku, and Aushman Tripathy (27). Ayaz and Ayusman, who stays in Rourkela, are the leaders of the gang and cases are pending against them in Khurda, Ganjam, Angul, Cuttack, Bhadark and Puri districts.
Panda further said that 40 gold chains, Rs 2 lakh in cash (sale proceeds) and four high-end vehicles were seized from them. “They used to regularly change vehicles and the number plates. They targeted bike-borne commuters and pillion riders and snatches only gold chains. To avoid being identified through CCTV cameras, they wore full dress and helmets. They used to mortgage the looted items with goldsmiths by identify them as their own. No professional receivers have been found in this case,” he said, adding that they will be brought on remand for further questioning.
The Commissionerate Police also played a video of Ayaz, confessing to the crime of chain snatching on Bhubaneswar, Ganjam and Chhatrapur national highways. Women were their main target. They used speed bikes for committing the crime and changed those after two incidents, he added.
