Gang stole 1,000 cars here, sold them in north-east

NOIDA: The arrest of a 40-year-old man has led Noida police to a gang that stole high-end cars in NCR using key tool programmers and sold them to contacts in Manipur and other north-eastern states.
Sources in the police force said the gang would break open the cars and use a tablet key programmer called X-toolpad to start the vehicles. The tool pad is easily available online for a few thousand rupees and its functioning can be learnt on YouTube.

According to sources, the gang, which comprised at least 10-12 members, would replace the number plates with those having fake registrations of Manipur and drive the cars all the way to the north-eastern state to sell them off.

Police said the arrested accused, Arkaan, would be told by his accomplices in Manipur to steal cars from NCR. He had engaged two others, Parvez and Asif, for stealing the vehicles and driving them to Manipur.

Arkaan, who has as many as 31 cases lodged against him for various crimes, including an attempt to murder, in different police stations of Delhi, Ghaziabad and Sambhal, was arrested from near the Pearls Gateway tower in Sector 44 during a routine check around 1.30am on Sunday. His two accomplices, who were in a Maruti Swift carrying a fake registration number — MN01AK2536 — managed to escape.

According to police, Arkaan would be given orders for stealing the cars by one Armaan — an Imphal resident.

Amit Kumar, circle officer I, said the gang had at least 12 members from NCR and the Northeast. “Arkaan would deploy other gang members like Parvesh for stealing high-end cars, for which he would get specific orders from his accomplices in the Northeast. They would take the stolen cars to their hideouts in Delhi and change their number plates with fake registrations of Manipur,” he said.

The gang had apparently stolen as many 1,000 cars over the years, he said.

Kumar said the vehicles stolen from NCR would be sold to Armaan for about Rs 2-3 lakh each and the latter would, in turn, sell them to customers from the Northeast for around Rs 5 lakh.

“Some of their operatives are based in the Northeast. We are in contact with Manipur police so that they can be nabbed,” Kumar said.

Anil Shahi, the SHO of Sector 39 police station, said Arkaan was the middleman. “Arkaan has been in and out of jail at least seven times. He was lodged in the Tihar in a case of theft in 2012. There, he met Armaan, who is from Imphal,” Shahi said.

Police sources said the gang would use a crushed key to open a vehicle, following which one of them would get inside the car, open the X-toolpad and connect it with a socket inside the car. The tool would read the pin code of the car key and help the operator open the central lock with another key.

Police said the X-toolpad could read the code of the key and easily function as the car key. The functioning of the key programmer is available on YouTube.