Cuttack, March 3: Police arrested three persons, including an arms dealer, for their alleged links with the gangster siblings - Sushant and Sushil Dhal Samant - and recovered four weapons and 10 rounds of live ammunition from their possession.

The three accused are Prakash Behera, 36, Debendra Behera, 28, and Samir Kant Sharma, 32.

Prakash had allegedly supplied firearms to the gangster brothers who were operating a major extortion and crime syndicate from Cuttack, the police said. Two 9mm automatic pistols and 10 rounds of bullets were seized from his possession.

During interrogation, Prakash has confessed to have also sold two firearms to Debendra of Seikhbazar and Samir of Gandarpur.

Both Debendra and Samir were also actively involved in affairs of the Cuttack Nagar Yuvak Sangha formed by Sushil Dhal Samant.

A senior police officer said that Debendra was involved in at least two cases under Lalbag and Kishorenagar police station limits.

Seven cases are registered against Prakash at Lalbag, Mangalabag and Cantonment police stations in the city.

The cops now suspect that the Dhal Samant brothers were also in contact with other local arms dealers apart from suppliers from outside the state.

Deputy commissioner of police Sanjeev Arora today said that 17 close associates of the Dhal Samant brothers had been booked so far.

As many as 25 firearms and more than 600 live ammunition have been seized from the brothers and their associates in the past one month.

The police had seized 13 weapons - a sophisticated carbine, eight mauzers, three revolvers, a double barrel gun and 418 live ammunitions - from the sector-6 residence of Dhal Samant brothers on January 29.

"Prakash Behera is an arms dealer and has also been arrested several times in the past. He is a close associate of the brothers and was supplying arms to the gangsters," said Arora. Efforts are being made to ascertain the source of procurement of the sophisticate carbine, while a special team is also working on finding the links of the gangster siblings outside the state, he said.

Prakash used to procure firearms from Talcher and other parts of the country, including Bihar. He was alleged to have procured weapons from Tukuna Swain, 40, who ran a small firearm unit in Talcher that was busted in 2014 by the police.

The cops had seized 31 mauzers, 500 live cartridges, gelatin, gun power and other equipment needed for making firearms from Swain's unit.

Prakash was nabbed while moving suspiciously near the residence of the gangster brothers at Sector-VI under Markatnagar police station limits last night.