Mohali, Nov 9 (IANS) Punjab Police Tuesday claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle thieves with the arrest of six people and recovery of 15 cars from their possession here.

Hyundai Verna, Tata Indigo, Tata Indica Vista, Maruti Alto, Maruti Zen, among other stolen vehicles, were recovered from them.

‘On a tip-off, our Crime Investigating Agency staff arrested the accused from Zirakpur town here. They confessed to their crime. They were active in different towns of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Four members of the gang are absconding and they have 10 stolen vehicles with them,’ Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar told IANS.

Talking about the modus operandi of the gang, Bhullar said: ‘They used to buy totally-damaged vehicles from insurance companies at throwaway prices. Then they used to remove the chassis and engine numbers of these vehicles and paste these on stolen vehicles before selling the cars to gullible customers.’

He also suspected involvement of employees of insurance companies in the racket.

‘Our investigation is on and we would probe the involvement of employees of insurance companies from whom they were buying damaged vehicles,’ Bhullar said.