Ahmedabad Police busted interstate gang involved in 500 car thefts, 2 arrested

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India]: Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Thursday busted an interstate criminal racket involved in the theft of more than 500 luxury cars from the Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) and neighbouring areas after altering the cars’ electronic security systems and arrested two key members of the gang, said police on Friday.

Police have recovered 10 of the stolen vehicles which include cars like Fortuner, Innova, Scorpio and Creta from their possession and 1.32 crore in cash, added police.

According to the police, the arrested accused have been identified as Ashraf Sultan, commonly known as Gaji, hailing from Meerut in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and Irfan, alias Pintu, a resident of Jharkhand’s Ranchi.

Chaitanya Mandlik, DCP Crime Branch said, “During the interrogation, police got to know that the apprehended suspects collaborated with around 25 other gang members from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, and West Bengal to carry out their extensive car theft.

This interstate gang had stolen over 500 cars by bypassing the advanced security system of cars nowadays.”

Further detailing about the modus operandi of the gang DCP said that the gang used laptops for breaking down anti-theft systems in the cars.

Subsequently, they would alter the engine chassis numbers of the stolen cars to match those of other vehicles registered in northeastern states. After securing No Objection Certificates (NOCs) from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in the seven sister states, they proceeded to finalise the sale.

To facilitate the transaction, customers would make advance online payments for booking the stolen vehicles. These stolen four-wheelers were sold in states other than the ones they were stolen from.