Four persons, posing as plainclothes policemen, were arrested on Sunday morning by a team of Bhaktinagar police under Siliguri Metropolitan Police.

The four, who had an SUV with them with a sticker that bore the inscription “POLITE”, possibly to trick people into thinking that it was a police van, had allegedly been stopping vehicles on NH10 and were extorting money from drivers.

According to police sources, a driver from Champasari area of Siliguri filed a complaint, alleging that the quartet had taken Rs 700 from him.

Based on the driver’s complaint, the police swung into action and arrested the four, Dilip Lohar of Sikkim but staying at Salugara on the outskirts of Siliguri, Raj Lohar and Shib Shankar Mahato of Vivekananda Nagar in Siliguri, and Nitesh Tamang of Lower Soreng, Darjeeling district.

“They were in an SUV, stopping vehicles at Eighth Mile (near Sevoke, on NH10), asking for documents from drivers while confidently claiming that they were police officers, and eventually asking for money from the drivers,” said a police officer.

During the raid, the police also seized the SUV as well as some articles such as torches. “A case has been registered against them for impersonating police officers and extorting money,” the officer added.