Jaleswar: Balasore Police today arrested the mastermind of the much-debated Union Bank heist that took place on April 26 at Chandaneswar locality in Jaleswar of Balasore district. The criminal was nabbed from 24 Pragana of West Bengal, SP Sagarika Nath informed in a presser held earlier in the day.

The arrested was identified as Tayyab Ali Mulla, who has several cases pending against him in different police stations of the neighbouring state. Police have seized gold weighing around 854 grams from the possession of the prime accused. Six other accused were previously arrested on July 5. A total of at least 14 persons are involved in the bank heist, the Balasore SP said while briefing mediapersons.

It is pertinent to mention here that a group of miscreants allegedly looted around Rs 40 lakh and gold ornaments from the Union Bank of India at Chandaneswar in the district. Around 7-8 armed miscreants entered the bank posing as customers at around 1.00 pm. Later, they threatened employees and customers of the bank at gunpoint and locked them inside a room and committed the crime.

It was then suspected that the bank robbers had gone towards West Bengal after the loot.

Police had arrested the six persons in this connection on July 5. Along with the arrests, police seized 300 grams of gold ornaments, three firearms, nine mobile phones, four motorcycles and Rs 6.2 lakh cash. While three of the accused are from Nachinda, Routmandaruni and Baharda under Kamarda police limits of Balasore, the others are natives of Dantan and Janput localities of West Bengal.