Jajpur, Jan. 10: Two persons, who were allegedly involved in more than 30 criminal cases of snatching, loot and extortion in the state capital, were arrested from near Barachana in Jajpur district.

They were today produced before court and later remanded in judicial custody after their bail applications were rejected, police said.

The duo— Avinas Lenka (23) and Manas Lenka (22) — hail from Laxmi Sagar in Bhubaneswar.

According to police, the two criminals were on their way to Jajpur Road on a two-wheeler after stealing gold ornaments from six victims in Bhubaneswar when they met with an accident near Chandikhole. Police rushed the injured duo to Barachana government hospital and found bhujalis (sharp weapons) on them.

After searching them, police recovered gold ornaments worth over Rs 4 lakh from their possession. Two bhujalis, two mobile phones, apart from the motorcycle, were seized from them.

“We recovered over 90 grams of gold ornaments, two bhujalis, two mobile phones and a two-wheeler from the duo,” said Barachana police station inspector-in-charge Prasanta Kumar Majhi.

Six cases of chain snatching were reported from three police station areas in Bhubaneswar yesterday morning. During interrogation, the duo confessed to having committed more than two dozen chain snatchings in Laxmisagar, Kharavela Nagar and Sahid Nagar police station limits in the past couple of months, Majhi said. The duo were wanted in more than 30 cases for the past couple of years, he said, adding that they were earlier arrested and forwarded to court by the Bhubaneswar police on charges of stealing last year.

“Interrogation revealed that the duo used to hide in Jajpur Road after committing crimes in the state capital,” the inspector said.