New Delhi:
Delhi Police claim to have smashed an inter-state gang of auto-lifters belonging to Himachal Pradesh with the arrest of five persons and recovery two cars and six mobile phones from them.
With this, police said, 14 cases of vehicle theft have been solved.
Dev Thakur (27), Ajay Thakur (30), Amar Singh (21), Vijay Kumar (21) and Davnesh (23) were arrested from Nelson Mandela Marg acting on a tip-off.
"At about 1.30 pm, one Innova coming from Vasant Kunj side was signalled to stop for checking. The driver of the car was asked to produce the documents of the vehicle, but he could not do so," police said.
The vehicle was found to be stolen from Defence Colony and during the course of interrogation of all the accused persons, it was found that Dev Thakur, alleged leader of this gang, alongwith other members had stolen and disposed of more than 15 luxury vehicles through one Murugan in Chennai and Vijaywada, they said.
At their instance, another Innova car was recovered. Raids are being conducted to arrest Murugan and to effect more recoveries.
They used to move in posh locations in early morning hours posing themselves as morning walkers and keep a watch on the driver or servant washing the vehicle.
"As soon as the driver used to go inside the residence to get some water or any other object, leaving behind the key in the vehicle itself, they immediately used to get into the vehicle and escape with the vehicle," police said.