Police on Tuesday arrested four people on suspicion of looting mobile phone shops from in the New Bus Park area during the protest of transport entrepreneurs on Monday.

Two mobile shops in the Lhotse Mall and Kathmandu Super Market were vandalized and looted. Looters had made off with mobile sets worth millions of rupees in the robbery, taking advantage of a protest by public transport workers.

Transport operators on Monday staged a demonstration against the traffic police’s ‘stringent’ rules, and Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s announcement to not let long and medium route public vehicles park in open spaces other than inside the New Bus Park at Gongabu.

The demonstration took a violent turn when the agitating protesters set fire to two traffic vans, venting their ire against the police, who they say overcharged fines. They also vandalised the supermarket’s building.

Mobile phone traders on Tuesday demanded action against those involved in the looting of the shops and compensation from the government for the losses incurred.

The four individuals were arrested from the New Buspark area on suspicion of involvement in the looting. The police have not released the names of the arrested persons as there may be other people involved in the incident.

The arrests came following a directive from Home Secretary Binod Prakash Singh. Singh, on Tuesday, had held a meeting with the Additional Inspector General Divesh Lohani of the Kathmandu Valley Police Office and other concerned authorities and ordered them to investigate the incident and bring the guilty to book.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Angur GC of Kathmandu Police Circle, Maharajgunj said that the police have arrested some individuals on suspicion and a thorough investigation is being conducted against them.

“The arrested individuals have not been made public as other people may be involved in the crime and we are still combing through the CCTV footage and the questioning eyewitnesses,” said GC.

Police teams from the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, Kathmandu Police and Maharajgunj Police have been deployed to search for those involved in looting and arson during Monday’s demonstration.

The police have also collected the footage from the CCTVs at the incident site.

Senior Superintendent of Police Manoj KC, head of Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, said that the search for those involved in the crime is ongoing based on CCTV footage, statements of eyewitnesses, and other facts and evidence gathered by the police.

“It seems that the crowd entered and looted the shops in the cover of the violence that was unfolding during the protest,” KC said, talking to the Post.