New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS): A gang of auto thieves has been busted by the Delhi Police and 8 stolen high-end cars and two motorcyles recovered from the Delhi-NCR area and elsewhere, an official said on Sunday.

According to the official, information was received on November 20 that three auto thieves, identified as Siraj, Guddu and Yamin, who commit vehicle thefts in the area of Delhi-NCR, would come to commit a crime.

A police team was constituted which laid a trap and apprehended all the three accused coming in a stolen Honda City car. They were arrested and four more stolen luxury cars (Honda Accord/Hyundai Creta) were recovered at their instance. During police custody, two more cars and 2 high-end bikes which were used for recce were also recovered, the police said.

Siraj was taken to Bengaluru from where one more stolen Maruti Baleno Car was recovered at his instance.

In 2020, gang leader Siraj deliberately purchased a total loss car, bearing number DL4CNC 3251(Honda Accord) through OLX and sold this car to a junk dealer so that he could use its number plate and registration papers for committing crime. Thereafter, he stole another Honda Accord Car from the area of Punjabi Bagh, tampered with its engine number and chassis number and put the number plate of the car which was earlier purchased by him through OLX.

During interrogation of the accused persons, it was also found that the kingpin of the gang is Gulam Nabi, a resident of Sambhal, UP, to whom the accused persons used to supply the stolen cars. The mastermind provided them a tab (used for cloning the keys), keys of different sizes and other lock-breaking tools and also imparted know-how for cloning the keys of the car.

"All the three accused have been arrested and further probe is on," the police added.

The vehicles recovered were: one Honda City, three Hyundai Creta, one Honda Accord, one Maruti Baleno, one Maruti Eeco, and one Hyundai Santro, two motorcycles, 18 remote keys of the cars, one tab and other car breaking instruments.