New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS): Nine members of the infamous "Thak-Thak" gang -- specialising in distracting a car driver and then taking away his valuables -- were arrested here in connection with a series of bag-lifting cases, police said Thursday.

With the arrest, police also claimed to have solved a Rs.1.5 crore diamond theft case.

Perumal, 50, Kumaran B., 43, Renganathan, 40, Prabakar, 34, Muthu Kumar, 30, Stalin, 26, Saravana Kumar, 25, Loganathan, 24, and Akilan, 23 were arrested from west Delhi's Mukarba Chowk.

They came to Delhi after committing a series of bag-lifting cases in Chandigarh.

"All the arrested gang members hail from Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu and have committed dozens of incidents of bag-lifting from cars in Delhi and Chandigarh by diverting the attention of the occupants after throwing currency notes on roads," Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav said.

With their arrest, Yadav said police worked out the sensational theft of Rs.1.5 crore-worth diamonds from central Delhi's Daryaganj area.

He said the gang was infamous for its unique modus operandi in which they target a driver by knocking on his car's window and then distract him by saying he had dropped currency notes.

"After diverting the occupant of the car, the gang members would lift bags containing cash, jewellery, laptop and other valuables from the vehicle," Yadav said.