Cuttack, June 18: Police have shifted their focus from the Dhal Samant brothers to criminals belonging to smaller gangs operating in the city.

As part of the ongoing operation against criminals, a special team of Markatnagar police foiled a dacoity bid by arresting five members of the Tito gang last night. The criminals were nabbed when they assembled near a sand quarry near Sector-VII.

The accused have been identified as Sayed Motaquid aka Muna Laden, Firoz Khan, Prafulla Jena, Sangram Rout and Amulya Mahali. A semi-automatic pistol, two rounds of live bullets, two motorcycles, sharp weapons and six mobile phones have been seized from the gang members.

Usman Ali alias Tito is a criminal involved in a series of tender-fixing incidents at Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. He has been absconding for the past couple of years. Tito is keen on grabbing various profitable businesses, such as in the sand quarry area in Cuttack, Barang and other parts of Cuttack district. But he was facing stiff opposition from the Dhal Samant brothers.

Sources said that since the siblings' arrest in January, the Tito gang had been trying to fill the vacuum. The gang members had been making attempts to capture the sand quarries that were under the siblings' control.

The Telegraph published a report on May 31 titled "New gangs eager to fill Dhal Samant vacuum" that anticipated the rise of smaller gangs led by Tito to regain supremacy over the extortion and crime syndicates in Cuttack.

"Our drive to make Cuttack free of criminals continues. Nearly 34 aides of the Dhal Samant brothers have already been booked in the special operation that has been going on in the city over five months," said deputy commissioner of police Sanjeev Arora.

Arora said 23 arms, including a sophisticated carbine and 483 rounds of live ammunition, were recovered from their possession.

Not only is the Dhal Samant gang under police vigil, a close watch is also being kept on its rival gangs. So far, the police have arrested 11 goons from the Tito gang.

"We are receiving complaints as well as information about the criminals from the public, and acting on those tip-offs, trying our best to nab the criminals," Arora said.