A member of an auto-lifter gang, who has fraudulently changed the engine and chassis numbers of around 4,000 stolen vehicles for over a decade, was arrested from northwest Delhi’s Samaypur Badli, police said on Wednesday.
The gang has close connections with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and the Goldy Brar syndicate, they said. The accused has been identified as Shameem, a native of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, they said.
According to police, the arrest of wanted criminal, Kamal, in April led to the whereabouts of Shameem. Kamal told police that he, along with his associates, had made more than 800 fake driving licences and forged registration certificates of vehicles.
It was revealed that Shameem had the expertise in changing engine and chassis numbers of vehicles, a senior police officer said. “Acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Samaipur Badli and the accused was nabbed on 12 May.
A loaded pistol was seized from his possession,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Ingit Pratap Singh said. The vehicle theft syndicate used to hand over the stolen vehicles to Shameem to alter their original chassis and engine numbers, he said.
Singh said the accused was involved in this activity for the last 10 years and has changed the chassis and engine numbers of around 3,000 to 4,000 stolen vehicles. Such vehicles with fake registration certificates were sold to criminals in the Delhi-NCR region, he said.
