Inter-state vehicle theft gang busted in Delhi

The suspects worked in partnership with used car dealers in Arunachal Pradesh and the gang was involved in stealing scores of vehicles

The crime branch of Delhi Police on Wednesday said it busted a car-theft racket and arrested four people, adding that they also recovered 10 stolen cars. Police said they were looking for around six more suspects who worked with the arrested people.

Since many high-end cars on their radar were equipped with GPS devices, they would drive the car to a pre-determined place and leave it there for four or five days, in case the owner or the police used its location to track it down. (Representational image)

According to the special commissioner of police (crime branch), Ravindra Singh Yadav, the suspects worked in partnership with used car dealers in Arunachal Pradesh and the gang was involved in stealing scores of vehicles.

Police identified the arrested men as Mohammad Sablu, 24, Mohammad Asif, 22, Sagar Barman 23, and Pasand Tamang, 33. While Sablu was the kingpin of the racket, Asif would transport stolen cars to the states in the northeast. Barman worked as a used cars dealer based in Itanagar while Tamang received the stolen cars, police said.

Special CP Yadav said the process began with Sablu receiving demands for specific make and models of high-end cars from the customers of Barman or Tamang. “Sablu’s men would carry out a recce of Delhi to identify the car and steal it at night. They used a specially designed screwdriver to break open the lock and software to prepare a duplicate key for the vehicle,” said Yadav.

Since many high-end cars on their radar were equipped with GPS devices, they would drive the car to a pre-determined place and leave it there for four or five days, in case the owner or the police used its location to track it down. “They took this precaution to not get caught in case the car was equipped with a tracking device,” said Yadav.

Once this was ensured, the car would be driven to Muradabad and then Asif’s associates drove the car to the northeastern states, ensuring that the car did not bear its original registration number plate. The car, once handed over to the contact in Itanagar, would be equipped with fake documents after altering its chassis and engine numbers.

Police said the racket was busted after the crime branch received a tip-off. The arrests and recoveries were made following several raids in places such as Aligarh, Meerut, Sambhal, Ghaziabad, Itanagar, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gorakhpur and Siliguri.

All the 10 recovered cars bore Delhi registration numbers and were stolen from places like Defence Colony, Noida and Janakpuri and Punjabi Bagh. Some of the stolen cars included Toyota Fortuner and Hyundai Alcazar. Yadav added the police also recovered 50 master keys from the suspects.