All six arrested members had different roles in the gang's work.
New Zealand:
The Noida police have arrested six members of a notorious tech-savvy gang active across several states and involved in four-wheeler theft, officials said on Monday.
Police revealed that the gang used sophisticated methods to carry out the thefts and used key programming devices ordered online to reprogram the car's Electronic Content Management (ECM) system.
This allowed the gang to generate new key modes to create duplicate keys and break into a car in 5 to 10 minutes, police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Ram Badan Singh said the operation, supervised by Additional Commissioner of Police (Additional Police Command) Manish Mishra and ACP (Noida-3) Shavya Goyal, resulted in the recovery of 10 stolen vehicles and various tools used in the thefts.
The arrests were made near Bharat Hospital on FNG Road within the limits of Sector 113 police station, he said.
“The gang members were detained while they were on their way to recover more vehicles. During interrogation, we got a lot of details from the gang. We will verify it and it could lead to recovery of more vehicles,” Singh said.
“In addition to the 10 cars recovered, they have been involved in several other vehicle thefts. We will try to get them into our custody and solve those cases as well,” he told reporters.
All the six arrested members had different roles in the gang’s work. Sonu is technically skilled and could quickly hack into the electrical system of vehicles. There is one who can make duplicate keys and some were involved in selling the stolen vehicles, Singh said.
He said the gang would supply vehicles “on demand” and call their customers to Delhi NCR for the deals even though their clientele resides all the way in Tamil Nadu.
Police identified the arrested persons as Khaleel, Monu Kumar, Sonu, Rajesh Kakkad alias Raja alias Raju, Ali Sher alias Imran alias Ali and Pramod. They were caught with an assortment of stolen goods.
According to the police, items found included 19 keys from various car companies, two clips, a wire cutter, a pair of pliers, three key wrenches, four screwdrivers, a lock set, two programming tablets, two connection cables, 12 license plates and six false registration certificates.
Police revealed that the gang was active in multiple states including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra. They specialised in stealing four-wheelers and selling them at different locations in the country.
“The arrested persons are part of a cunning gang active in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and other states,” a police spokesperson said.
“They steal four-wheelers from different regions and sell them at desired prices in different parts of the country,” the spokesperson said.
After stealing the vehicles, the gang removed the license plates and parked the vehicles in safe or secluded places for two to three days. They were skilled in auto mechanics and used false documents and license plates to avoid detection while transporting the stolen vehicles, police said.
Gang members rode ahead to warn police of checkpoints, and if police suddenly showed up, they pretended to be fixing a mechanical problem with the vehicle, they said.
According to an official statement, all suspects in this case have prior criminal records in several states.
For instance, Khaleel has multiple cases against him, including charges under the Gangster Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to theft and fraud. Sonu also faces several charges in Delhi and Noida for theft and related crimes, while Monu Kumar has a long list of cases against him in Delhi and Haryana, it said.
Among the recovered vehicles are a Toyota Fortuner, several Hyundai Cretas, a Brezza, a Tata Sumo Gold and several Marutis. Police also seized tools used to break locks and make duplicate keys, fake number plates and forged registration certificates, it added.
The gang members were arrested for theft, dishonestly receiving stolen goods, assisting in the concealment of stolen goods and using a false property mark, police said. Further legal proceedings are ongoing.
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