Birgunj, December 31:

Police today arrested a criminal who had been on the run for a long time. Santosh Das, 18, of Inaruwa village in Birgunj municipality 19, was nabbed by the police near Singha River on the border of Bara and Parsa districts this afternoon.

Santosh was arrested after police frisked him and seized two .357 pistols and ammunition from him. Police also grilled him about his gang.

A Grade VII student in Tribhuvan Hanuman Secondary School here, Santosh and his gang were involved in a murder and robbed people of more than Rs 10 lakh. Police said Santosh and his gang targetted pedestrians, bus passengers, locals and people coming from India and other countries in the evening.

Santosh confessed to the police his role in looting a motorcycle and Rs 30,000 in Indian currency from a village near Raxaul some days ago.