ROURKELA: Two youths, posing themselves as members of banned CPI (Maoist) group, were nabbed while they were collecting extortion money from local contractors, police said on Saturday.

Police said the youths identified as Chhotu Minz (22) and Mangal Lohar (22) who hailed from Santoshpur village under Maoist prone Bisra block in Sundargarh district, were involved in a series of extortion incidents posing themselves as naxalites.

One week ago, the police said the duo threatned one Mahendra Singh, a block-level contractor of Ramjodi village under Lathikata police station limit, to pay Rs 40,000 as extortion money.

The contractor, on his part informed the police which laid a trap when they arrived to collect the money. The police too seized their motorbike. The duo would be produced in the court on Saturday, police said.