LAHORE, Aug 17: Model Town division police claimed on Sunday to have arrested four members of an alleged gang of robbers involved in robbing families on return from weddings.

The Model Town division SP claimed the gang was wanted in 43 such strikes. He said the gang members would intercept the families returning from marriages and snatch gold ornaments and valuables from them. They would also go for motorcycle snatching and lifting if didn’t find a wedding target, he claimed.

The police, on a tip off, raided a place on Fasih Road near Miani Sahib graveyard and apprehended the alleged robbers when they were planning a dacoity as a marriage ceremony was in progress nearby.

Identified as Shahbaz, Asif and two brothers Rana Imran and Rana Usman, the arrested robbers were taken to the police lock-up and interrogated.

The police on their identification recovered Rs290,000 in cash, gold ornaments, two cell phones, a camera and two stolen motorcycles from their hideouts. Four pistols, as many magazines and 20 bullets are also claimed to have been recovered from their possession.

Five members of the gang had already been arrested some six months ago from Ichhra. They had confessed to having made 29 such strikes. They had told the police that Shahbaz and Asif were their accomplices at large.

Shahbaz told the police he along with Asif had escaped from Pakistan after the gang was busted and spent five months in Dubai and Thailand. On return, he said, he convinced Usman and Imran to join the gang on the pretext of giving them a good share from the booty.