Police have arrested seven members of a well-entrenched gang involved in stealing electricity meters across Naogaon, Joypurhat and Bogura districts.

The arrested are Masud Rana, 34, of Paharpur, Sanjeev Dewan, 30, of Anandanagar, Irak, 32, of Shialapara in Chakrampur, Faisal, 30, of Paschimpara in Chakrampur, Hakim, 24, of Kathaltali Bhabanipur, Rubel, 32, of Anandanagar Mridhapara, and Abdullah, 30, of Dupchanchia in Bogura.

Several stolen electric meters and eight mobile phones used in the thefts were recovered from their possession.

Naogaon Superintendent of Police Mohammad Shafiul Sarwar disclosed the arrests at a press conference at his office on Saturday afternoon. They were arrested during overnight raids in different parts of the district.

SP Sarwar said the gang had long been stealing electric meters under the cover of darkness. After removing a meter, the group would leave a mobile number inside the meter box. When victims called the number, the thieves demanded payments through bKash or Nagad in exchange for returning the stolen meters.

He said a meter was recently stolen from JK Agro Industries (Rice Mill) in Dohali village of Mahadevpur upazila, with a mobile number written inside the box. Two days later, a deep tube-well meter was stolen from the same spot using the same method. When owners called the number, they were told to send money through bKash to retrieve their meters.

After one of the victims reported the theft to the electricity office, the case was forwarded to police. DB police later conducted coordinated raids and arrested the gang members. Each has multiple theft and robbery cases pending against them in various police stations.

SP Sarwar said the suspects confessed during initial interrogation. They will be produced before court and remand will be sought for further questioning.