In a significant breakthrough, a most wanted mining mafia was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Crime Branch at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Tuesday.
The arrestee was identified as Mohammed Tabrez. He was on the radar of the investigating agency for quite some time.
The accused Tabrez was allegedly involved in illegal operation of quarries in land belonging to Shree Jagannath Temple in Khordha district, said the STF.
Acting on a tipoff, STF officials detained Tabrez while he was on his way to Thailand with his wife and handed him over to the local police.
Later, Tabrez was produced in the Barrackpore SDJM court by local police. Later, STF officials took him into custody and brought him here on transit remand.
Earlier, the STF had issued a lookout circular against Tabrez.
He was involved in illegal stone blasting in different quarries in the area and used to terrorise locals and rival gang members with illegal firearms. He was also wanted in a case registered at the Kishan Nagar police station.