: The Delhi Police have busted a gang of automobile thieves and recovered 20 cars from their possession.
Among the vehicles seized are Ford Endeavours, Toyota Fortuners, Mahindra Scorpios and Hyundai Vernas, all expensive makes. Most of these were stolen from posh localities of Delhi-NCR, and then sold off to unsuspecting customers using documents of discarded vehicles.
Describing the modus operandi of the racketeers, Ishwar Singh, DCP (South), said they would begin by approaching insurance companies to buy expensive cars which were headed to scrap yards.
“The criminals would sell the vehicles to scrap yards but retain the documents for using them for the stolen vehicles of the same make,” said Mr. Singh.
Tactic
The members of the gang would then scout posh localities of Delhi to steal the same kind of cars. The police said the recee for these cars would be done in other luxurious cars to avoid suspicion.
The chassis and engine numbers of the stolen cars would then be tampered with to match the descriptions in the documents available with them. Thereafter, the stolen cars would be sold as genuine ones. Each member of the gang had a specific role to play, right from the purchase of useless cars to the sale of the stolen ones. The gang benefited from their strong contacts at a car scrap market in Meerut’s Sotiganj.
The gang’s two members, Salim Chawal and Kasim, would procure the documents of luxury cars which had met accidents and were not in a position to be repaired.
Their associates in Delhi would then steal vehicles of the same make.
In the dark
Buyers in each of these cases were genuine. When approached by the police, they produced registration certificates of the cars to prove they had legally bought the vehicles.
The South Delhi district police had constituted a team to crack down on this gang. The breakthrough came on August 10 when the police arrested two members of the gang. They were in possession of a stolen Toyota Fortuner car which they were about to sell.
Their interrogation resulted in the arrest of three other members, and the recovery of the stolen vehicles. Further probe into the case is on.
