LAHORE, Oct 6: Police claim to have busted two crime gangs – one involved in stealing electricity transformers, wires and the other preparing fake gold – recovering from them stolen items, fake gold and illegal weapons.

According to a news release issued on Saturday, a Manga Mandi police team constituted by Sadar SP (Operations) Liaqat Ali Malik gathered information about an inter-provincial gang led by Zulfikar alias Bao of Changa Manga and arrested him along with his seven accomplices during a raid.

The police seized a mini-truck, three cutters, two pump-action guns with 44 cartridges and a pistol with 20 bullets from them.

The suspects used to operate in different parts of Punjab, stealing transformers and wires.

The police have traced dozens of cases registered against them in Faisalabad district during initial interrogation.

Meanwhile, the police team also took Noor Muhammad alias Noori and his four accomplices into custody for manufacturing fake gold and seized from them 250 grams of it, besides a pistol and 40 bullets.

The suspects told the police during preliminary interrogation that they would defraud people by telephonically contacting them and showing them some original gold coins as a ‘specimen’. Later they would sell them fake gold instead of the precious metal.

Police have traced several cases against the suspects in the light of their confessions.