Four autolifters arrested, 13 stolen cars recovered

Four suspected autolifters hailing from Manipur have been arrested, and 13 high-end cars and SUVs, including a BMW, was recovered from Delhi and Imphal, the police said here today.

The gang used to tamper with the chassis number of the stolen vehicles and then sell the cars by getting them re-registered from different district transport offices in Manipur, DCP(South) Romil Baaniya said.

A team of Anti-Auto Theft Squad (AATS) of south Delhi district police was working to bust the gang for sometime.

On a tip off, Asker Ahmad (34) was arrested from from Sector-5 Pushp Vihar, Saket, on the night of March 27. The Honda City car, which he used to drive was actually stolen from Paschim Vihar, the officer said, adding five country-made pistols and eight cartridges were seized from the car.

During interrogation, Ahmad revealed that he was an MBA and used to run a call centre that was shut down a few years back. It was also found that he was earlier arrested in connection with smuggling of pseudoephedrine tablets to China, Baaniya said.

"Ahmad confessed that he had transported more than 50 stolen cars to Manipur. The cars were sold after preparing forged documents and getting those registered at different district transport offices in that state. The arms were sourced from Nahrup in Imphal," the DCP said.

On the basis of the information provided by Ahmad, eight stolen vehicles were recovered from Manipur. Another four vehicles, including a BMW Seven Series car, were recovered from Kotla Mubarakpur in Delhi, he said.

Also three other members of the gang -- Mohammad Fakruddin (31), Sorokhaibam Chorijit Singh (25) and Abdul Gaffar Khan (34) were arrested from Kotla Mubarakpur on April 8. Three motorcycles were also seized from the gang members, he said.

Fakruddin, was a Manipur Police constable. He was dismissed from service due to his involvement in autolifting. Singh was declared proclaimed offender in many cases, the officer said.