Odishatv Bureau

An inter-state mobile phone snatching gang was busted and nine people were arrested in Odisha's Ganjam district on Wednesday, police said.

The gang members were arrested by the police during patrolling on National Highway 16, an officer said.

The arrested people were earlier allegedly involved in snatching mobile phones from elderly persons in crowded areas, he said.

Eight of them are from Sahibganj district in Jharkhand, and one is from Bhubaneswar, Berhampur Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Bishnu Pati said.

They were staying at a hotel in Bhubaneswar and had come to Berhampur on July 17, he said.

An auto-rickshaw, a country-made revolver with three cartridges, three bombs, swords, irons rods and 32 stolen mobile phone sets were seized.

Of the 32 seized mobile phone sets, 10 were found to have been snatched from different areas of Berhampur and Hinjili on Saturday and Sunday, Pati said.

An investigation is underway to trace other members of the gang, he said.

The police had arrested three members of a Jharkhand-based mobile snatching gang in January and seized 104 cellphones from their possession.

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