A gang of five truck drivers in custody in connection with the bus loot incident. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, Oct. 27: Five truck drivers, who have been rendered jobless following the slowdown in transportation of mineral ores, were arrested for allegedly looting passengers of a bus on October 19 at a traffic junction on the Paradip-Daitary expressway.

“Jitu Mallik, 20, Kumar Mallik, 30, Ranjan Mohanty, 30, Maheswar Mahapatra, 30, and Hunda Mallik were all truck drivers and are residents of villages adjoining the national highway. They are unemployed for the past several months and had resorted to crime,” said the inspector of Marshaghai police station, Sukant Kumar Patra.

The police said that the accused were nabbed after extensive tracking of their mobile phones. The gang had stolen mobile phones of some of the passengers. The tracking of these handsets led to their arrest. A police team is investigating whether the accused had committed similar crimes in the past.

“They have confessed to the crime and revealed that they looted the bus under economic compulsion. They had no source of income after losing their jobs,” a police official said.

The jam-packed bus, which was on its way from Contai in East Midnapur district of Bengal to Paradip, was intercepted near Tikarpanga traffic junction on 19 October. There were about 45 passengers travelling in the bus. Most of the passengers were from Contai and were on their way to Paradip.

The men thrashed the driver, conductor and some passengers of the bus and fled after looting cash and gold ornaments from them. Around a dozen passengers, including women and children, were injured in the attack.