The police also got permission from court to handcuff the accused on the plea that they were dreaded criminals and might try to escape.

Jaipal Singh and Gurshahid Singh Pawar alias Shera, Harinder Singh alias Tinu and Harjot Singh were arrested on Tuesday after a tip-off. Jaipal, the mastermind of the gang, has been involved in 15 bank robberies and dacoities in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The police, which had sought a seven-day remand, said foreign-made unlicensed weapons have been recovered from the accused and that four more weapons needed to be recovered.

In their application for remand, the police said they needed to investigate how many crimes the gang committed in Chandigarh, their hideouts in city and how they came in contact with each other as they are from different areas in Punjab.

The police said the bank robbery in Panchkula and the failed robbery bid in a Mohali bank in which a woman was shot at were committed by the gang.

Giving details of the sophisticated weapons found on the accused, the police said a US-made automatic pistol and five live cartridges have been recovered from Harjot Singh, an Arminius revolver and seven live cartridges from Harinder Singh, a German-made revolver from Gurshahid Singh Pawar and a .32 bore Smith & Wesson with six live cartridges from Jaipal.

“We need to recover at least four more weapons from them, which they robbed from the gunhouse in Hoshiarpur. They have admitted that three foreign-made weapons were from the gunhouse in Hoshiarpur. We are interrogating them to know where they have hidden the other weapons,” DSP Satbir of Special Crime Investigation Cell said.