Massive extortion bid foiled in Odisha, 3 held with arms and ammunition

Express News Service

ROURKELA: In a serious breakthrough, the Rourkela police foiled an try of a Jharkhand-based felony to launch an enormous extortion operation within the metropolis and bordering areas of Sundargarh with the arrest of three criminals and seizures of an enormous cache of arms and ammunition.

Police sources mentioned the gang was concerned in medicine, arms, and extortion. The seizures included three seven-mm pistols with 20 stay ammunition, 4 improvised bombs, 35 ammunition of SLR rifles, one Pajero car, one two-wheeler, and Rs 50,000 money.

Rourkela SP Mukesh Ok Bhamoo mentioned the extortion plan was hatched by one Arjun Rana (48), an Assam native based mostly in Jharkhand. He had beforehand frolicked in Rourkela and was conscious of the affluence and paying capacities of native businessmen. 

“He wanted to expand the lucrative extortion trade he had planned to unleash a reign of terror to extract big extortion money. As per the preliminary investigation, Rana used to identify himself as leader of the Jharkhand-based People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI). With the outfit facing increased police heat in Jharkhand Rana had formed his own gang targeting small-time criminals in drug, arms, and other criminal activities,” Bhamoo mentioned.

The SP mentioned some businessmen have been forcibly paying, however not as a lot to the hefty demand of the gang and the recruits of the gang have been getting armed with lethal weapons. The gang members have been below instruction to hold out firing and bombing incidents towards the focused businessmen to scare them and make sure the clean working of the extortion commerce as per their demand and whims.

Apart from small-time criminals, 8-10 criminals of Odisha and Jharkhand are lively below Rana who weres managing the procurement of narcotic substances, primarily ‘ganja’ from Kandhamal, and supplying the contraband to Jharkhand for procurement of arms and ammunition.

The SP mentioned Rana has a free hand to his males to earn a living from medicine, arms, extortion and different felony actions and asserted after an in depth investigation extra police motion would comply with.

Police mentioned on Sunday gang-member Bashist Mohanty alias Bunty (22) and Jangyasish Swain (27) driving a motorcycle have been arrested after they tried to keep away from car checking and it led to the arrest of Amit Sahoo (32) and seizures.