3 smugglers held with antique idol

PATNA: With the arrest of three antique idol smugglers, the Vaishali police on Saturday claimed to have busted a gang involved in the sale of stolen antique idols. Police also recovered an antique idol of Lord Ram made of ashtadhatu from the possession of the arrested persons, said Sadar SDPO Ashok Kumar Prasad.
Police said that acting on a tip of that some people possessing an antique idol were in search of customers for selling the idol, a police team comprising SDPO Sadar, Bhagwanpur police station SHO J K Prasad, Sadar police station SHO Sandip Kumar Singh and Industrial Area police station SHO Abrar Ahmad became active in civvies to trap them.
Police said that the team led by J K Prasad and Abrar Ahmad, posing as customers, contacted the gang members at a line hotel and fixed the price of the idol at Rs 2.50 lakh. During the talks, other members of the police team were keeping an eye on them. When the deal was finalised, a miss call was given to the other smugglers that the deal had been finalised, police said.
Police said that it was decided to collect the idol on Lalganj Road under Sadar police station where the team led by SDPO Sadar Ashok Kumar Prasad was already waiting. Police said that as the members of the gang handed over the idol to the cops in civvies, the police team arrested three members of the gang though the fourth managed to escape.
The SDPO said the arrested persons have been identified as Awadhesh Kumar, Ajay Kumar Thakur and Ajay Kumar Choudhary. He said the height of the idol is one-and-half feet and it weighs 20 kg. The idol of Lord Ram is very old.