Bhubaneswar: In a major crackdown, Bhanjanagar police arrested 21 members of an inter-state gang of thieves from Batagoli in Ganjam district on Saturday and recovered over 1,000 stolen mobile phones along with other electronic goods.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team, under the guidance of the Bhanjanagar IIC and accompanied by an executive magistrate, raided a house suspected to be the gang’s hideout on January 30, 2026.
According to Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Deepak Kumar Mishra, the gang was involved in thefts across multiple states and stored a large cache of stolen items at the house.
“During the raid, we seized 1,066 mobile phones, 1,275 batteries, 425 motherboards, 5 tablets, 9 fake number plates, 11 motorcycles fitted with counterfeit plates, some gold ornaments, and cash worth around Rs 10,000. The accused could not produce any documents for these items,” he said.
Three of the arrested were identified as residents of Murshidabad, West Bengal, while the remaining 18 are from Odisha. All 21 have been taken into custody and will be produced in court today.
Police said the investigation is ongoing to track other gang members and recover additional stolen property.
