Police Bust Inter-District Snatching Gang, Arrest 4 Persons In Odisha’s Puri

Puri: Police have succeeded in busting an inter-district snatching gang and arrested 4 persons involved in the racket in Odisha’s Puri district.

Speaking to media persons on Sunday, Puri SP K Vishal Singh said following regular complaints of snatching of gold chains, purses, ladies’ hand bags and mobile phones from the tourists to the town, a street crime detection cell led by additional SP Mihir Panda was formed some days back.

“After investigation into the complaints and gathering information, the cell zeroed in on the gang. The crime detection cell with the help from Baliapanda police station and City DSP arrested 4 members of the gang. Of them, 3 are snatchers while one is a customer who used to purchase the stolen goods,” the SP said.

The police team seized 4 gold chains, 2 gold rings, a 7 mm pistol, a motorcycle, 7 mobile phones and Rs 6,000 in cash from the possession of the arrested persons. The looters have been identified as Mithun Mohapatra, Bibhuti Bhusan Swain and Sangram Swain belonging to the area under Chandanpur police station.

The SP also said the interrogation of the accused revealed that they had mortgaged the stolen gold ornaments in 3 micro finance companies of which 2 are located in Puri and one in Khurda. “We are also investigating on what basis these companies provided loans to the accused and verifying the document submitted by them,” he added.