Mangaluru : A gang of 9 nomads of Budubudike tribe who had hatching plots to resort to dacoity, rubbery and such other criminal acts in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi are arrested at Uppinangady bypass road on national highway 75 on Friday May 8.

The gang conducting astrological predictions based on lines on palms or cards picked by parrots, by visiting home to home.

Sources said that the gang had arrived in the town as per the instructions of Mahesh alias Maada of Angadihalli in Belur taluk of Hassan district who lives in Uppinangady area.

A team of policemen led by Uppinangady police sub-inspector, Jagadish Reddy have been arrested Mahesh alias Mada from Uppinangady, Devaraj from Krishnapura, Ramesh from Alevoor, Venkatesh from Bengaluru, Nagaraj from Suratkal, Prakash, a native of Angadihalli, Manikanta from Bengaluru, Kaverappa from Arasikere, and Manjunath from Suratkal.

It is said, the gang used to move around Belur, Hagare, and Arasikere in Hassan district, as well as Krishnapura and Suratkal in Dakshina Kannada district, and earn a living by making predictions about people’s future against a small fee.

The gang members have criminal backgrounds and many of them had been arrested for thefts including daylight thefts and released from jail after their terms ended. They had come together for indulging in a major crime, the policemen suspect.

The arrested have been produced in the court and remanded to judicial custody.

Police have seized two machetes, two iron rods, two cell phones, a cash of Rs 8,100 and a Maruti Omni from them.

A case was registered in Uppinangady station against all of them.