The arrested gang members in Rohtas on Saturday. Picture by Sanjay Choudhary

Patna, June 18: The truck drivers, particularly those from outside Bihar, can now heave a sigh of relief for the time being. Rohtas police have arrested all the seven members of a criminal gang involved in the hijacking of trucks from areas under Rohtas, Aurangabad and Gaya districts.

The 40km stretch between Aurangabad and Sasaram (Rohtas) had virtually turned into a “kidnapping zone” for the truck drivers particularly for those hailing from other states. At least a dozen incidents of hijacking of trucks and kidnapping of drivers and co-drivers have been reported from the region in the past three months.

Rohtas superintendent of police (SP) formed a special team headed by sub-divisional police officer (Sasaram) Vishwajeet Dayal to trace the gang involved in targeting drivers and co-drivers on the national highway passing through the district. The station house officers of the police stations located on the highway were asked to cooperate with the team.

Rohtas SP Manu Maharaj received information on June 15 that some criminals were fleeing after robbing a businessman of his laptop, mobile phone and other belongings from Chandan Shaheed Chowk under Sasaram police station. The members of the team chased the motorcycle-borne criminals and apprehended two of them with illegal firearms.

The criminals told the police they mostly target truck drivers and co-drivers on the NH-2. Five other gang members were later arrested from different parts of the district.

Maharaj said three members of the inter-state gang are residents of Chalania locality under Sasaram town police station.