COIMBATORE: Fourteen persons from two gangs -- one group which attempted to sell fake gold bars and another gang that tried to rob them -- were arrested by police in Tirupur on Wednesday.

Police said P Karumalai from Thoppampatti in Theni, M Manivannan from Uthamapalayam, P Murugan and S Mariyappan from Mahalakshmi Nagar in Palladam, all friends, had bought five fake gold biscuits through online at Rs 500 each.

They planned to sell the fake bars for several lakhs to unsuspecting victims as authentic gold and approached two middlemen, Suresh from Erode and Arjun from Pollachi. Proceeding with this strategy, they decided to make the sale with a few people at Mahalakshmi Nagar. Kasiraj, a history sheeter from Namakkal, happened upon the plan through his friend Suresh, one of the middlemen, and decided to rob them of the gold biscuits.

Along with seven members of his gang - Vijayakumar, Gopinath, Krishnan, Suresh, Ragu, Maniraj and Mani - Kasiraj had reached Mahalakshmi Nagar to execute the robbery.

On information, the Palladam police caught all 14 persons from two gangs and seized five fake gold biscuits, two knives, and cars from the accused persons. They all were produced in court and remanded in judicial custody to be lodged in Coimbatore Central Prison. Further inquiries are underway.