Police bust inter district gang responsible for 21 dacoities

SAMBALPUR: Police on Wednesday busted an inter-district dacoity gang and arrested 10 of its members involved in a series of dacoity. The gang has committed 21 dacoities in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, and Bargarh districts.

Briefing mediapersons on Wednesday, Sambalpur SP Mukesh Bhamoo informed that as many as 15 cases of dacoity have been registered in Sambalpur district alone. This apart, two cases each in Bargarh and Sundargarh and one each in Bolangir and Jharsuguda have also been registered.

The first dacoity was committed at Durga Rice Mill in Rengali on April 8, 2024, whereas the recent four cases have been reported on Tuesday, two under Burla and one each under Rengali and Sadar, police station limits.

Bhamoo said, “The gang mostly targeted rice mills and the houses of mill owners besides petrol pumps and country liquor manufacturing units where the possibility of getting cash and gold were high. The seizure made following their arrest can be valued at around Rs 75 lakhs.”The seizures include 480 grams gold, 165 grams silver and 35 silver coins and cash worth Rs 5,12,000. Besides, police also seized two MUV, two tractors , four motorcycle and a scooty from their possession. Weapons and tools including bhujali, knife, rope, crowbar, and an orange siren have also been seized from their possession.

Police said, the gang knew labour payments at rice-mills are done between first and tenth of every month and accordingly the targeted the mills.

Explaining their modus operandi, police said, prior to dacoity bid, they used to recce the rice mills and collected inputs about movement around the spot. Subsequently, they executed their plan. To avoid being caught through evidences and not leave any fingerprints, they were using gloves. Similarly, they were using masks to not be caught by CCTV. They also used vehicle installed with orange siren to mislead people. They usually committed the dacoity between 1 am and 2.30 am and switched of their phones during the crime, added police.