Three youths - Sonu Kumar Sharma, Vivek Kumar and Bittu Kumar - allegedly belonging to a bike-lifter gang, were arrested on Friday.

The gang used to sell stolen bikes in north Bihar districts. The police also recovered eight bikes from their possession. In November alone, 97 bikes had been stolen from Patna.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Jitender Rana said a team under city superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande had been formed after they had received a tip-off about a gang operating in different areas of Patna such as Kankerbagh, Agamkuan, Jakkanpur and Ram Krishna Nagar.

'A trap was laid when the police team got information that some of the members of the gang had assembled near Gulzarbagh railway station late on Thursday evening and were planning to give shape to a crime. The police surrounded the area and arrested the trio. A countrymade pistol, two stolen motorbikes and live cartridges were recovered from them,' the SSP said.

The three, who hail from the Patna City area, were interrogated and five more motorbikes, another pistol, 16 cellphones, two laptops, 33 SIM cards, two high-end digital cameras and Rs 50,000 were recovered.

'The gang consists of more people and interrogations are on. The police suspect that the gang had stolen many motorbikes besides other things. Interrogations have revealed that the gang is involved in at least 10 cases of loot in different police station areas mainly Jakkanpur, Agamkuan, Jakkanpur and others. The men used to get active after 11pm and target people returning home on bikes. All their belongings, including the vehicle, used to be looted. The bikes used to be sent to districts of north Bihar mainly to be sold in the grey market. Other criminals involved in making false documents helped these men,' Rana said.