Bhubaneswar: In a major crackdown, a team of the Commissionerate Police-Bhubaneswar today busted the notorious ‘Pahadi Gang’ allegedly involved in defrauding money from bank accounts of victim persons through their stolen SIM cards. Police have arrested eight persons in this connection.

“Earlier, we launched a drive against street crime leading to the busting of the Pahadi Gang. This gang is active in most of the states in India. The gang members were coming to Odisha from time to time. Usually, 14 to 15 members visit a state when there is a huge gathering due to festivals or any other functions,” Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh said while briefing mediapersons in a presser held here.

“The eight fraudsters belong to Asansol, Teen Pahad, Assam, Jharkhand and West Bengal. They operate individually and when any one of them is caught by police, other members manage to give the slip to the raid team and flee from the spot. The gang operates in a much-organised manner,” the DCP said.

“Pahadi Gang steals mobile phones taking advantage of huge crowds and then defrauds available balance in the bank or UPI accounts of different persons through their stolen SIM cards. The gang previously defrauded money to the tune of around Rs 14 lakh from a person and a case was registered at Capital police station. Since then, we had been tracking its movement. Arresting them was challenging as the gang was very frequently changing its location,” Singh stated divulging their modus operandi.

Police have seized at least 22 mobile phones, 25 SIM cards, some memory chips, cash of Rs 1.3 lakh, and several other incriminating instruments from the possession of the gang, DCP Singh expressed.

A few other members of the gang who succeeded in fleeing will be arrested soon. It was ascertained during a detailed probe that the members were being paid a salary of Rs 10,000 to 15,000 every month by the gang’s mastermind. We were tracking the gang for over the last two months, the DCP added.