Mahottari, January 10:

Locals of Ekarhiya VDC in Mahottari held three of around 15 persons who were on a looting spree in the village last night. Locals captured Bijay Yadav and Manoj Shah of Sohodwa VDC and Sanjay Thakur of Pipara-3 and handed them over to the police.

Three locals were also injured in the clash with the looters.

The injured — Shyam Mandal, Bijaya Mandal and Shiyasharan Mandal — are undergoing treatment in a local health centre, the police said.

The gang managed to loot valuables from seven houses belonging to Siyasharan Mandal, Bijaya Mandal, Jaisi Mandal, Raj Kishor Mandal, Sufal Mandal and Madhusudan Khatwe,

the police added.

The robbers had also opened fire in the air to scare away the villagers, locals said.