5 arrested for stealing tonnes of cashew nuts in Koraput

Koraput: Police today arrested five members of a gang for their involvement in a cashew nut theft racket in the district in December last year.

As per sources, the gang had stolen over three tonnes of cashew nuts worth lakhs from a cashew processing unit at Ghasarada area under Baipariguda police limits here on December 16, 2018. After stealing the nuts in bulk, the gang sold the raw cashews to several businessmen in the Jeypore town.

While sources claimed that the gang was being operated by ten members, so far only five have been arrested and an investigation is on to nab other five.

However, no cases were registered against the businessmen who had purchased the raw cashew nuts. Police however interrogated them and recorded their statements in this connection.

Jeypore SDPO, T Jagarao Reddy stated, "We received information from reliable sources that the dacoits are hiding in the cremation ground near Jyoti mills following which police team went there and nabbed all the five persons. A few objects were also seized from their possession. After verification, we found several cases are pending against their names. We have recovered all the stolen cashew nuts while the statements of all the witnesses were recorded u/s 164 CrPC."