Cuttack: Police on Sunday nabbed two "close associates" of gangster siblings Sushant and Sushil Dhal Samant on charges of illegal arms trade and extortion.

"Chandan Behera of Machuabazar and Lalan Gupta of Sector-VII at Markatnagar have several pending criminal cases against them," deputy commissioner of police Akhileswar Singh said.

Markatnagar police intercepted a motorcycle on Sunday evening and nabbed Behera, Gupta and one Biranchi Nayak of Sheikh Bazaar.

One country-made pistol and two rounds of live ammunition were seized from them.

Behera and Gupta were earlier jailed after the arrest of the brothers in January last year. But, they were soon out on bail and were trying to revive the Dhal Samant brothers' extortion racket again.

Following their release, Behera and Gupta were regularly visiting Jharpada Jail in Bhubaneswar and Balasore jail where Sushant and Sushil were lodged, respectively. The police suspect that the gangster brothers were trying to operate through them from behind the bars.

Behera, 30, had been looking after the extortion duo's racket since 2011.

Gupta, 28, looked after collection of extortion money and supply of arms and ammunition to criminals for them.