Punjab police bust gang of robbers, arrest 13

PATIALA - At least 13 people, who were accused in over 25 cases of robbery in the last few months, have been arrested in this Punjab town, police said Saturday.

Nine country-made pistols, live cartridges and a car have been recovered from their possession.

“Based on a tip-off, we laid a trap Feb 12. At that time three accused were travelling in a car bearing a fake registration number. When we signalled them to stop, they attacked the police and managed to flee,” district police chief R.S. Khatra said.

“However, we managed to arrest them later. Then during interrogation, they revealed the names and addresses of 10 other accused and after raiding various places we also arrested them. Now we hope to crack many high-profile cases that took place in the last six months in the state.”

A police officer said members of this gang were involved in some unsolved murder cases last year. All 13 have been arrested over a period of one week.