Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), Jan 16 (IANS): The UP Special Task Force (STF) has arrested three persons, including the mastermind of an inter-state gang involved in defrauding people by cloning their ATM cards.

The team also recovered a laptop and its accessories, an ATM card reader and an ATM card skimmer besides many blank ATM cards of different banks.

According to an STF release, those arrested have been identified as the gang leader, Ravi Pandey, and Dinesh Kumar.

Another aide, Akhilesh Kumar Dubey of Mirzapur district, has also been arrested.

Circle officer, STF, Navendu Kumar said that the STF was on alert after receiving information. The team spotted the three in the region and arrested them from near the toll plaza in the trans-Yamuna region of Bara.

All three have been sent to jail.

The STF and the cybercrime cell had been receiving complaints from people losing their money from their accounts and were tracking the accused since the past few weeks.