Five college students planned to execute a few heists to raise money. They assembled on Thursday night at a marketplace to take forward their plans. They had even acquired a few firearms, bullets, knives and daggers. But luck ran out on them. They were caught and put behind bars.

Ujjal Pathak (20), Rahul Umat (19), Nitin Sharma (20), Sriram Shah (19) and Amit Kapoor (19) had assembled near Jagatpur market, in Baguiati, to finalise plans to raid a series of houses in the locality. On a tip-off, a team of policemen went to the spot and rounded them up.

“We had information that a new gang was planning some criminal operations in the area,” explained K. Mukherjee, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Barasat, on Friday.

When the police team arrived at the marketplace, they saw a group of five young men, new faces in the locality, sitting on a mat and talking among themselves.

“They were novices and when challenged, were too scared to even take to their heels,” SDPO Mukherjee said.

A country-made revolver, a dagger and three bullets were recovered from the gang, the local police station said.

Ujjal and Nitin are students of City College’s evening branch. “Rahul is an under-graduate student of commerce at Jaipuria College,” said an investigating officer. The other two are college dropouts.

During interrogation, the young men admitted that they were planning the heists to raise pocket money. They had saved up nearly Rs 3,000 for buying the ammunition. “Each of them had contributed to raise the fund,” an official said.