Five criminals held in Delhi

New Delhi : Five members of a gang involved in robberies and snatchings at gun point here have been arrested, police said on Monday.

The arrested men have been identified as Asif, 23, Salman, 26, Anil, 27, Abid, 28 and Arif, 34. They are residents of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

"They were arrested on Sunday following a tip-off when they came to Sonia Vihar to commit a robbery. Police recovered two bikes, five improvised pistols and over Rs 1 lakh in cash from their possession," Deputy Commissioner of Police Atul Kumar Thakur said.

"During interrogation, they revealed that Abid, after being released from jail two years ago, had organised a gang of robbers. Later, he befriended another criminal, Kamal. Abid got leads of cash movements of various businessman from Kamal," Thakur said.

"Kamal and Abid, to evade their arrest, used to contact each other on social media platforms," the police officer said.

The gang on July 16 snatched Rs 11 lakh from a Narender Aggarwal, who works as a distributor with an MNC, in Usmanpur. Abid was later seen in a CCTV footage installed near the robbery spot.

"Kamal, who is still at large, purchased firearms with that money the next day. The gang was planning to commit more robberies. Efforts are on to arrest other criminals of the gang," the officer added.