Satyanarayan PattnaikKoraput: Rayagada district police on Tuesday cracked four burglary cases reported in different parts of the district and arrested 12 persons, recovering gold and silver ornaments, vehicles, mobile phones and tools allegedly used in the crimes.According to police, the cases were reported under Rayagada, Ramanaguda, Doraguda and Gunupur police stations in the past few weeks. During the investigation, police recovered 80 gm of gold and 581 gm of silver from two accused, besides 34.75 gm of melted gold from two others.Police also seized 87.86 gm of jewellery allegedly mortgaged with a finance company in Rayagada and another 37.9 gm of jewellery allegedly pledged by an accused. The seized items included 12 mobile phones, a specialised crowbar, screwdrivers, a gas cylinder and equipment allegedly used for melting gold, besides a gold-weighing machine.Four vehicles a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Chevrolet vehicle, Mahindra Bolero Neo and Royal Enfield motorcycle were also seized.Police said the accused had allegedly formed an organised group and adopted a systematic modus operandi. They would first recce isolated houses and gather information about the occupants, valuables and CCTV cameras before executing the burglaries. The stolen gold and silver ornaments were allegedly melted and remodelled to conceal their identity before being mortgaged with gold loan agencies or sold for quick cash.Through coordinated intelligence gathering, field investigation and technical analysis, our teams were able to identify the members of the gang and establish their involvement in multiple property offences. We are examining their role in other similar cases and efforts are on to recover more stolen property, said SP (Rayagada) Raj Prasad.Police said several of the arrested persons have previous criminal antecedents in burglary, theft, robbery and dacoity cases registered in Rayagada and neighbouring districts. So far, their involvement has been established in 15 criminal cases.The arrested persons have been identified as Dasamanta Naik, Bishnu Harpal, Prasanta Jhodia, Daitari Naik, Bipin Naik, Narahari Naik, Babula Naik, Vasantara Kartik, Aju alias Dilip Palai, Siba Sankar Naik and Basanta Benia, said police.Further investigation is underway to ascertain their involvement in other cases and trace additional stolen property, the SP said.