A gang allegedly involved in more than 24 incidents of robbery on national highways has been busted with the arrest of four persons, including a minor, from a village in Dhabi mining area of the district here, police said.
The adult accused have been identified as Rema (24), Mukesh (28) and Jawan (25), all residents of Gudda village in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, they said.
"A gang of about 20-25 people, operating on highways passing through Kota, Bundi, Bhilwara and Chittorgarh districts, was involved in robbing drivers of loaded trucks by puncturing the tyres of the vehicles," Bundi SP Bhuvan Bhushan Yadav said yesterday.
Most of the gang members, including the arrested ones, hail from Jhabua district in MP and work as mining labourers in Dhabi mining area of the district, he said.
A minor was also detained along with the three other accused while the leader of the gang Sardar Singh, succeeded in fleeing from the spot, he said.
The arrests were made after police raided the area yesterday following a report of two truck drivers being looted on National Highway 52 near the area on the night of January 20.
According to the SP, the accused have confessed to have committed more than 24 robberies on highways in Kota, Bundi, Bhilwara and Chittorgarh districts.
"They would divide themselves into groups of five and six and would spread out sharp-edged pebbles and stones on lonely parts of highways during night hours in order to catch their prey," he said.
As the heavily-loaded trucks would move over the stones, their tyres would get punctured, he said, adding that while the driver and co-driver would replace the tyre tubes, the gang members would emerge from the darkness with sticks and loot them.
Efforts are on to nab the other members of the gang, including the leader, the SP said.
