Samastipur police made a significant breakthrough when they arrested five suspected Maoists with illegal weapons during a vehicle-checking drive on Thursday night.

The police intercepted a sports utility vehicle on National Highway-28 near Bangra and on searching found one of the five occupants to be in possession of two country-made pistols and two live cartridges. The suspect was later identified as Basant Kumar, a resident of Chhajan village in neighbouring Muzaffarpur district. Basant happened to be an active member of a Maoist outfit led by Musafir Sahni.

Samastipur superintendent of police (SP) Nawal Kishore Singh said Basant was involved in over six Maoist-related incidents in Muzaffarpur district alone. Later, a Muzaffarpur police team led by additional SP (operations) Rana Brajesh quizzed Basant. The SP said that while two of the arrested persons - Basant Kumar and Lalbabu Bhagat - were said to be Muzaffarpur residents, two others hailed from Samastipur district. The vehicle the suspects were travelling in has been seized, he said.

Muzaffarpur additional superintendent of police Brajesh said: "We are completing legal formalities for taking him (Basant) on police remand." In Aurangabad, the police arrested five members of an inter-state gang and recovered four country-made pistols, 10 live cartridges and Rs 10,000 in cash from them.

Aurangabad superintendent of police (SP) Satyaprakash said the criminals were held while hatching a plot to loot a jewellery shop on Maharajganj road in the town.

The arrested men - Ajit Kumar, Ashok Kumar Singh, Rahul Yadav, Ashok Yadav and Shashikant Mehta - were wanted in several cases of loot, extortion and murder in Aurangabad, Gaya and Rohtas in Bihar and Palamu in Jharkhand.

Rahul, said to be an office-bearer of the Jan Adhikar Party, was involved in nine criminal cases, a police officer said. Similarly, Ashok faced charges of loot and extortion in different districts of south Bihar. The SP said that the arrested men were produced in a local court, which remanded them to 14 days in judicial custody. "Instructions have been issued to the investigating officer to submit a chargesheet against the accused at the earliest to facilitate speedy trial," he said.