7 dacoits held, firearms seized

The police today arrested seven members of an inter-state gang of dacoits and seized five firearms from their possession.
The police nabbed the gang members while planning to loot a branch office of a private loan company located in Sambalpur town.
Sambalpur SP Akhileshwar Singh said out of the seven arrested persons, four hailed from Uttar Pradesh, two from Bihar and one of Punjab.
"After getting an information that a person sustaining bullet injury has been admitted to the Burla hospital, police personnel reached there and got to know by questioning him that some people of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab have reached the city with a plan to loot the loan company's office. The police personnel were on high alert since then," SP Singh said.

Following a tip off, the police raided a place near Kainsir canal and found weapons in their possession, the SP said adding the inter-state gang members have been involved in different loot and dacoity cases in Punjab, UP, Bihar and now planning to execute another dacoity in Sambalpur.