Gang of 4 ATM thieves held after encounter in Kushinagar

On Thursday, police intercepted the criminals during patrolling under the Patherwa police station limits of the Kushinagar district.

GORAKHPUR: A gang of four thieves was held after an encounter with police in the wee hours of Thursday in Kushinagar. The gang was involved in breaking ATMs and decamping with the money in them. Police officials also recovered equipment -- including an oxygen cylinder, a small LPG cylinder, gas cutters, and four country-made pistols -- from their possession.

The gang was involved in breaking ATMs and decamping with the money in them (HT Photo)

On Thursday, police intercepted the criminals during patrolling under the Patherwa police station limits of the Kushinagar district. “When we signalled their SUV to stop, the criminals opened fire at us in a bid to escape. After police retaliation, they were caught. One of them sustained a bullet injury,” said Grijesh Upadhyay, police station in-charge of Patherwa.

Sharing further details, SP Kushinagar Dhawal Jaiswal said, “Based on a tip-off, the police station in-charge at U.P.-Bihar border was put on alert. The four arrested criminals have been identified as -- Iqbal Quraishi from Mathura, Khalid Ali from Palwal (Haryana), Ejazul Haq from Madhubani (Bihar), and Ekram from Mewat.”

Notably, Ekram was already wanted in a case and carried a reward of ₹50,000 on his head. Ejazul Haq and Khalid were also carrying a bounty of ₹25,000 each. The criminals have confessed that they used gas cutters to rob ATMs in various districts, said police.