Kundapur: Five people were arrested after  a raid was conducted near Lord Kotilingeshwara temple at Koteshwara in Kundapur taluk on Saturday and four ancient stolen idols of Jain Tirthankars were confiscated.

The arrested accused has been identified as Nevil Mascarenhas, Anil Furtado, Ashton Sequeira, John and Anila.

According to sources, the police had received credible information stating that the accused were trying to sell stolen idols of Jain Tirthankars, which are said to be commanding price of crores of rupees, in the market. The police formed a team and a raid was conducted.

When police arrived at the spot, they saw that Nevil, Ashton and Anil had parked their car near Kotilingeshwar Temple and were waiting for customers to sell the stolen idols while John and Anil were waiting at a distance from the spot. However the police arrested all five of them although they tried to flee.

The police seized a car, cash counting machine, Rs 40,000 in cash, cell phones and the idols from the spot.

A case has been registered at Kundapur town police station and the police are further investigating the matter.