Interstate gang of car thieves busted

Coimbatore: The Madukkarai police on Monday busted a gang that stole luxury cars from Bengaluru and seized 11 vehicles worth Rs 1.5 crore from a garage at Sundarapuram here.

Coimbatore superintendent of police Ara Arularasu had received a tip off about a gang that was smuggling contraband goods in stolen rental cars. A police team conducting vehicle check near Apple Garden at Arisipalayam near Madukkarai on Monday stopped a car without registration number and arrested three people.

Police identified them as M Surendran, 23, of Kulasekaranallur in Thoothukudi district, M Vijayaraj, 23, of Kalmanickapuram near Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district and M Sakthi, 22, of Kurumbapalayam junction near Eachanari.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the trio, along with Sadiq and Imran, who own a garage at Sundarapuram and Dinesh, a hotel owner, used to visit Bengaluru to rent luxury cars. “Though the cars had GPS tracking devices, the gang used to remove them before entering Tamil Nadu. They were planning to pledge some cars for money and sell parts of others,” Arularasu said. “The thieves had stolen seven rental cars from Bengaluru. They also stole four cars from garages there. They were involved in the thefts for the last six months.”

The police team seized 11 cars, including an Audi Q7.

Police are on the lookout for Sadiq, Imran and Dinesh.