Bhubaneswar, April 11: Police today arrested five persons, who cheated a dealer of Rs 42 lakh by promising him to sell gold biscuits, which they claimed had been seized in a customs raid.

The police seized cash worth Rs 20.72 lakh from the accused, along with 180 pieces of fake gold biscuits, two newly purchased cars - one Toyota Etios and another Mahindra Scorpio - apart from some money receipt books.

An official said two other members of the gang, including the person who had acted as the conduit between the sellers and the buyer, Sambit Kumar Sahoo of Banamalipur, a businessman dealing in raw gold items, were still absconding.

The cops identified the accused as Himansu Mohanty, 39, the mastermind behind the entire operation, Batakrushna Pradhan, 45, Rabi Barik, 34, Sivram Patnaik, 35, and Rankal Haribandhu Reddy, 45. Reddy had manufactured the fake gold biscuits. The first two accused belong to Cuttack, while the three others are from Ganjam district.

The accused were booked under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and sent to jail following rejection of their bail pleas. Police commissioner Rajendra Prasad Sharma said the gang had spread the word that they wanted to sell off gold biscuits seized by the customs at a lower rate.

"Through one of their friends, they got to know about Sahoo and called him to a hotel, where the exchange of money took place. They deceived the businessman and took away Rs 42 lakh from him without giving him the promised gold biscuits. The incident occurred on March 25," said Sharma.

Sahoo lodged a complaint with Lakshmisagar police on March 28, and the police swung into action immediately. By tracking the criminals' phone numbers, the police conducted raids on the their houses and arrested them.

The police are conducting raids in Koraput and other places to arrest the absconding offenders, apart from checking their criminal antecedents.