Cops thwart major dacoity bid, arrest 2

Visakhapatnam: The city police prevented a major dacoity bid with the help of West Bengal police and arrested two criminals of a gang from Bihar apart from seizing six weapons including five branded pistols from them, late on Wednesday night.

The weapons include five automatic .32 foreign-made pistols, one local made tapancha, 80 rounds of .32 and 6 rounds of 9mm.

The seizure of the fire arms was the biggest haul in Vizag so far, but the police are yet to ascertain their source.

The inter-state dacoity gang has planned to loot the valuables (gold and cash) from the offices of Muthoot Finance, Mannapuram Finance and few others banks and jewellery shops in the city.

The two arrested were identified as Thakur Anurag Kumar Singh alias Jacky and Sunny Kumar Singh, both hailing from Bihar.

Addressing the media, DCP (Crimes) T Ravi Kumar Murthy Thursday said that two more members of the gang Sasanth Singh and Manoj Kumar were arrested at Pusapatirega in Vizianagaram district and another member of the gang Mukesh Prasadwas at Rajahmundry few days back.

The arrest of the three members of the gang has led to the nabbing of Jacky and Sunny who landed in police net in a covert operation near RK Beach.

The preliminary investigation has revealed that the gang was involved in two major dacoities in other States.

The gang had committed an armed robbery at a finance company in Nagpur of Maharashtra and made good with 30 kg of gold in July 2016 and looted Manappuram Finance in December 2016 at Barrackpore in West Bengal and decamped with 30 kg of gold and cash.

The kingpin of the gang Subodh Kumar Singh alias Kumar Gaurav is still at large and he is the most wanted person for West Bengal, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh police.

The police teams seized weapons and Bajaj Pulsar bike of the gang from a house in an apartment located at Maharanipeta that was rented by the two members the gang.

All the members of gang have planned to meet at RK Beach on February 9 to executive their dacoity operations. Jacky and Sunny came to Vizag city on January 29, purchased a new Pulsar bike and conduced a dry run of Manappuram and Muthoot.

Explaining the modus of operandi of the gang, the DCP said that some members of the gang move to a city, two weeks before their dacoity and after conducting recce and other members of the gang join them.

The gang hires couple of houses close to the crime spot and purchase a bike. Wearing masks, the gang enters into the office and threatens the staff with pistols and loot the offices.

The gang disposed off the looted gold in Nepal. So far eight members of the gang were arrested and the West Bengal police had taken the culprits to Kolkata for interrogation.

The DCP said the continuous efforts of the young Sub-Inspectors G Gopala Rao and P Suresh Kumar and Inspector Ch Shanmukha Rao and the constables D Seetharam, Y Siva Kumar and B Ravi Kumar proved a success in nabbing the two members the gang and seizure the fire arms. The commissioner of police gave them cash rewards.