A unit of the Asansol-Durgapur police on Monday night chased down and arrested two of a gang of three burglars within an hour of a robbery in West Burdwan’s Andal.

The third robber who managed to flee then was arrested early on Tuesday from Madanpur near Asansol. One more person, believed to be linked to the case, was arrested from Churulia.

A Durgapur court remanded arrested Kazi Abdul Raju and Dil Mohd. Mollah to 14 days of jail custody, while two others — Vikas Singh and Ranjit Bauri — were sent to 10 days of police custody.

The feat, reminiscent of heist thrillers gone right, took place near the Jharkhand border, where the two occupants of an SUV, Singh and Bauri, were intercepted and arrested on the NH2 at Kanyapur in the Asansol North police jurisdiction. The goons had broken through at least one Naka checkpoint with their large vehicle but it did not deter police hot in pursuit.

The chase happened on a 35km stretch on the busy highway with night traffic. Police said the occupants of the SUV also started littering currency notes of Rs 20 in an unusual move to distract the cops.

Finally, Singh and Bauri were caught with a firearm and Rs 4 lakh in cash, the latter being the sum looted shortly before the chase began. Mollah had managed to flee then but was arrested a few hours later from Madanpur.

“We recovered Rs 4 lakh in cash that they had snatched from a businessman in Andal. Two goons were also arrested from the car along with a gun,” said Abhishek Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (east) of Asansol-Durgapur police commissionerate.

On the crime that prompted the chase, police said two employees of a contractor’s agency were carrying Rs 4 lakh in cash as wages, from a bank to a steel and iron plant in Jamuria. The wages were to be paid to workers on Tuesday.

Raju, an employee of the contractor who was on Tuesday arrested from Churulia, is believed to have tipped off the robbers about the two-wheeler with money, the police said.

“A four-wheeler suddenly pulled up beside the two-wheeler on the NH2 near Kajora over bridge and forced its occupants to hand over the money,” said Arun Chatterjee, one of the owners of the agency.

Chatterjee said that on getting to know about the robbery, he immediately contacted the police. “We are happy that the police immediately swung into action,” he said.

A highway police patrol team first was assigned to chase the goons, and also alerted all neighbouring police stations along the NH2.

“We attempted to intercept the robbers at the nearest Naka checking point on NH2 in Raniganj but they broke through the barricade and fled,” said a police officer in Raniganj.

But shortly after, they were intercepted at Kanyapur crossing on NH2 in Asansol, some 35km away from Andal.

The breakthrough came on a day two more incidents of burglaries were reported in the same district.

Two youths in a motorbike snatched Rs 4.7 lakh from a trader in West Burdwan’s Barakar when he was on his way to bank to deposit the money at Chirkunda on the Bengal-Jharkhand border on Monday. Police said they were probing if the gang from the Andal crime scene had any involvement with this. “We have informed the matter to our counterparts in Jharkhand,” said a police officer.

On Monday, two youths beat up a jewellery shop owner in West Burdwan’s Hirapur, held him at gunpoint and then decamped with gold and silver ornaments from his shop.