Man involved in stealing 500 luxury cars held in Delhi

A man carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh has been arrested on the charge of stealing around 500 high-tech luxury cars in Delhi in five years, police said on Friday.

Safruddin, 29, of north Delhi's Nand Nagri area and his gang members used to arrive by air in the national capital from Hyderabad and return after committing the crime to avoid arrest.

"A team led by Inspector Neeraj Chaudhary and Sub-Inspector Kuldeep had hailed a car to stop near Gagan Cinema on August 3. The driver, later identified as Safruddin, however sped away but was intercepted after a chase of 50 km at Pragati Maidan and arrested," Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajesh Deo said.

"Safruddin told police that he had fixed a target of stealing 100 luxury cars in a year in Delhi. Along with accomplice Mohammad Sharik and other gang members, he arrived in Delhi from Hyderabad by air along with a laptop and hi-tech gadgetry to break into the targetted cars' software, GPS and centralised locking systems," the officer added. They later took a flight for getting back to Hyderabad.

Safruddin and his four accomplices had opened fire on police at Vivek Vihar on June 5. In the shootout, his accomplices Noor Mohammad was killed and one Ravi Kuldeep arrested.

The gang sold the stolen vehicles to their contacts in Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states.

--IANS

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