The Thripunithura police on Tuesday arrested a 10-member quotation team, including a woman, and foiled an operation to blackmail prominent businessmen in the area.
The arrested have been identified as Rajin P.R. (26), Jithu K.A. (23), Jubin P.P. (24), Ashique Àshok (26), Jagadish N. (26), Shyam P.S. (24), Sachin P.S. (24), Sreehari (26), and Salma Hassan (24), all natives of Thrissur. The woman member of the gang was identified as Jinshida, 21, a native of Thrithala in Palakkad.
The gang members, who earlier operated for the notorious gangster Kadvi Renjith, had been staying in an apartment near Karingachira. Preliminary investigations revealed that they were planning to honey-trap some key businessmen in the area.
During the raid, the police also recovered swords and other lethal weapons from the apartment, in addition to documents shedding light on their links with various other quotation gangs. Among the accused, Rajin had served a term at the Viyyur Central Prison while the remaining accused were accused in various criminal cases.
During the investigation, the police traced the phone numbers and other details of several businessmen in Kochi from their phones.
The accused will be produced before a magistrate.