Highway looters went on a rampage in the Soro area in the district and committed three robberies in a span of 12 hours on Thursday.
In the first incident, unidentified miscreants looted a gold chain, cash over Rs 1 lakh and a mobile phone from a businessman at gunpoint in broad daylight.
A few hours later, when an employee of an automobile finance firm Manoj Mohanty was returning home to Sarupada on his bike, three robbers waylaid him at Chapolia on National Highway-16 and decamped with Rs 21,000 cash and mobile phone by brandishing a sharp weapon.
After sometime, another dacoity was reported from the same place, where a Rajasthan-based businessman Dinesh Kumar was robbed of Rs 14,000 cash and a mobile phone by five persons by brandishing guns. Though the Soro police have begun an investigation into the series of robberies, they are yet to identify and nab the miscreants. The terrified locals alleged that due to inefficiency of the police, the area has become a hotspot for dangerous criminals.