The Delhi Police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a gang of car thieves that stole high-end cars on demand. Following the arrest of four people identified as Sagir Ahmad, Safruddin alias Safar, Aamir alias Aman, and Shoib Khan, police said it recovered 13 luxury cars stolen from various parts of the national Capital, along with latest technology and equipment used in the commission of crime.
Members of the inter-State gang, led by Sagir, alias Sata, active in the Delhi and the National Capital Region used to steal cars by using latest technology and instruments to bypass and programme the alternative ECM (Electronic control module) of targeted cars, said Deputy Commissioner of Police, south-east district, Romil Baaniya.
Sata is absconding and is likely to be arrested soon, he said. The thieves learned new techniques for stealing the newly launched luxury cars through YouTube and also used to purchase chips, duplicate keys, alternate ECM, etc, from online shopping portals, said the police official.
After receiving several complaints, police were on the high alert. It was on April 1 when a police team received a tip-off that an inter-State auto-lifter gang would be coming near Meerabai Polytechnic College in New Friends’ Colony for delivery of a stolen Hyundai Verna car, said the DCP.
Accordingly, a trap was laid and about 5 am, one white colour Hyundai Verna car was seen coming from the Ring Road. It was intercepted and all the four occupants of the car were overpowered by police, he said.
When police sought the registration certificate of the car, they could not produce it. On physical checking of the engine number and chassis number of the vehicle, the registration number was traced and it was found that car was stolen from Outer Delhi’s Rohini, said the official.
Baaniya said every member of the gang is an expert in stealing cars of different brands without being detected.
“Aamir is an expert in stealing Toyoto Innova & Fortuner and Maruti cars. While carrying out theft of such cars, they used to park their car alongside the targeted car. They would cut the wire of the targeted car’s horn from under the bonnet of the car. If, during this process, the car’s indicators started to flash, they would rush to their car and wait till the indicators went-off,” Baaniya said.
“After this, they would break the rear quarter glass and enter into the car after unlocking it and pull the ignition point by using drill machine. Thereafter, they would take out wires from plugs below the dash-board and connect these wires through cup-links into alternative ECM brought by them and start the car by inserting a screwdriver into the ignition point,” he added.
The accused used a laptop to scan the programme after connecting the wires into their own ECM, which they used to call as a ‘bypass’.
Members of the gang used to select the targeted cars during the daytime. location and photographs of the selected car were sent on Whatsapp to Sata who further shared the details with his gang members, said the DCP.
They used to carry covers for the stolen vehicles along with them.
After stealing the car, they used to deliver them to the party that had demanded them and if they did not have orders for cars, they used to hide them in parking lots after covering them.