Police on Wednesday here arrested five members of an inter-State highway truck hijackers’ gang and seized two pistols and some vehicles from its possession. The persons were arrested from several places of the district during raids conducted on Tuesday by a team of police led by Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Gupteswar Bhoi. The arrested were identified as Ashim Guha of West Bengal, Sunil Das, Kartikeswar Sethy, Jitu Munda and Kalia alias Jitendra Patra. Two pistols, a truck and a car were seized from them, police said.Some other members of the gang are believed to be on the run and efforts are on to nab them.
On January 23 night, the gang members had looted a truck on NH-215 near Bankamaruni village under Sadar police limits. Police seized the truck. It was found during investigation that the gang members were involved in another truck loot that took place near Gopalpur on January 6. Parts of the stolen truck had been sold in West Bengal. The gang was involved in several loot cases under Sadar, Ghasipura, Kanjipani, Ghatagaon and Town police station jurisdiction, the SDPO said.