Lucknow, May 31 (IANS): In a seemingly bizarre incident, four milkmen have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh for a highway robbery.

They claimed that they had planned the heist because they had to pay a loan taken for purchase of buffaloes.

The four were spotted on the CCTV footage of the area and arrested.

According to ACP, Bazarkhala, Anil Kumar Yadav, the four namely Nijaj of Kakori, Abrar Ahmad, Aneesh Ali and Muin Ali, all of Para police station area, were desperate to pay off a loan of Rs 8.5 lakh they had taken to buy seven buffaloes.

All of them are in their early twenties.

The young milk vendors planned a highway robbery as a quick fix to their problem.

Aneesh was given the task to spot a seemingly affluent man and loot his car and other belongings.

"Aneesh informed them about a man in a car who stopped at a beer shop in the area. Other miscreants reached the scene on their motorcycles. They waited for the man to sit inside the car. As the victim was in an inebriated state, all the miscreants surrounded him as soon as he sat inside the car. They overpowered him and one of them drove the car towards Bhalia village," said the ACP.

When they reached an isolated place, they looted the gold ornaments and Rs 8,000 cash from the victim before dumping him in the thickets. They drove on, but the car developed some snag in the clutch plate, following which they had to park the vehicle at the house of the village head in Shivri village, the police said.

"Nijaj, the mastermind of the crime, gave Rs 4,000 each to Anees and Muin while keeping the gold ornaments with him. They threw the mobile phone and documents of the car in a canal on the way," the officer added.