BHUBANESWAR: The Commissionerate of Police busted a gang involved in theft of four-wheelers and arrested four persons here on Sunday. Two SUVs and two motorcycles were seized from the possession of the accused.
The arrested persons were identified as Alekha Behera (34) and Manoranjan Pradhan (29) of Phulbani, Asis Nayak (33) of Bhanjanagar and Basanta Das (37) of Cuttack.
According to police, Alekha and Asis are notorious criminals who were arrested earlier on charges of trading ganja. They were using the stolen vehicles for transporting contraband to various places in the State. After using a vehicle in the illegal business on three to four occasions, the accused sold it off at throwaway prices, a senior police official said.
While Manoranjan was an associate of the duo, Basanta had purchased one of the stolen four-wheelers from Alekha a few months back.
The arrests were made following a complaint lodged at Khandagiri police station by Rabindranath Sahani whose SUV went missing from the Capital in December last year.
The accused, during preliminary interrogation, revealed that they had stolen three more vehicles from the Twin-City in the recent past.
The Khandagiri police has formed a team to trace the locations where these vehicles were sold by the accused, sources said.