CUTTACK: The Commissionerate Police has busted a gang of highway robbers who targeted cargo transporters on the National Highway-5 (NH-5) across several districts and arrested nine members while recovering huge amount of looted TMT iron rod along with a truck trailer.
The gang had looted the cargo along with the trailer from near Birupa bridge on NH-5 under Jagatpur police limits on August 26. Investigating into the case, police not only tracked down the nine-member gang but also caught hold of five persons who had received the loot. The trailer along with 26 tonne of rods, a Honda City car and a motorcycle have also been seized.
According to police, the trailer belonged to Jamshedpur-based Saizer Enterprises and was carrying the freight to Bhubaneswar when the robbers struck at the bridge in the wee hours of August 26. The driver and helper of the trailer were abducted by the gang led by one Rashmi Ranjan Banua alias Bapuni of Chauliaganj, Cuttack and taken in a car towards Puri canal where they were eventually dumped. Their accomplices made away with the TMT rod laden trailer.
While the trailer staff were rescued by Mancheswar police later, the gang managed to dispose of the loot materials at Balanga and Gop in Puri district. The receivers identified as Santosh Dash, Trilochan Panda and Jitendra Das of Balanga along with Pabitra Nayak and Ajaya Nayak of Gop have been arrested, Commissioner Dr RK Sharma told mediapersons.
The gang operating across districts had in February pulled off a heist on another trailer belonging to the same company at Mahanadi river bridge. It is also found to have been involved in a similar loot in Balasore in March and Khurda in May, police said.
The modus operandi was to waylay the goods trucks and abduct the driver and helper in another vehicle while members drove away the original vehicle. The staff were tied and dumped far away from the spot.