Giridih police on Friday arrested 11 members of a gang of cyber criminals along with its kingpin who is also the mukhiya of Dasdih Panchayat in Gandey block.

The gang targets residents of other states including Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and others, stealing money from several residents including a few VIPs, whose names the cyber police team refused to disclose as the investigation is still on.

The team headed by DSP Sandip Suman has also traced 46 fake bank accounts in Giridih and its surrounding districts, which the gang used to transfer the stolen money.

The gang, which has been operating for several years, would use hi-tech gadgets for the crime, pretending to be bank employees calling from the call centre to fetch details.

“Each process in this crime, starting from finding cellphone numbers to calling residents, convincing them and fetching details of their bank account, then stealing money using that information to transfer and withdraw money from the fake bank accounts is done systematically by the members. They are professionals and merciless thieves,” said the DSP.

Police have recovered 26 mobiles, 33 SIM cards, 19 ATM cards, seven passbooks, five fake Aadhar cards and four pen drives along with voter cards.

The gang, which has been more active during the lockdown, has members who are aged between 19 to 35 years. Of them, the younger ones joined a few months ago.

“The gang has looted several crores. Their palatial houses are evidence,” said the SP.

One of the arrested accused Pawan Mandal has a Rs 2.5 crores worth property, equipped with most modern safety equipment and remote controlled gates and amenities.

The arrested mukhiya Harilal Mandal is the mastermind of the gang, who monitored and assigned responsibilities to the members in the gang.

“In each targeted bank account he took at least 3 percent of the amount cheated,” he said.

Those arrested were identified as Minesh Mandal, Sandeep Mandal, Virendra Mandal, Ishwar Sau, Chhotan Mandal, Santosh Mandal, Subhash Mandal and his brother-in-law Mantu Mandal.

Officer of the cyber-crime department, Dhruv Kumar, while conducting the raids found that the gang members are leading a lavish life with the money stolen through bank frauds.