THANE: Nine members of an inter-state gang of car lifters, who allegedly stole more than 100 vehicles from several states, have been arrested by Thane police, a senior official said on Thursday. As many as 80 cars valued at around Rs 3.4 crore were seized from Pune, Mumbai (in Maharashtra), and some places in Rajastan and Karnataka, Thane's Joint Commissioner of Police Madhukar Pandey told reporters here.

The gang operated in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the north-east region, he said. During the probe, the police got information about the gang's involvement in theft of around 170 vehicles, he said.

The police first received a complaint in December 2018 of theft of a car from Thane city. During the investigation into it, they traced the vehicle to Pune and seized it. All the nine accused were subsequently nabbed in the last few days for their alleged involvement in various cases of car thefts, Pandey said.

The modus operandi of the gang was to first steal the vehicle, take it to a godown in Pune, and then obtain a fake RC (registration certificate) book for it from Nagaland.

They would would later change details of the car's engine and chassis before selling the vehicles in Belgaum (Karnataka) and Rajasthan, the police official said. Following their arrest, the accused were produced in a local court which remanded them in police custody till February 14, he added.