[RavenAvi]

The Delhi police has unearthed a "workshop" of sorts for stolen cars in the industrial area of NorthEast Delhi. This meticulously-running operation was being operated by a nexus of car thieves-cum-mechanics, spare-part sellers and scrap dealers.

Spread inside an isolated building on a huge 3000sq-yard plot in Karawal Nagar, this stolen car "factory" was being used for dismantling upto 10 stolen cars per day and all the parts from them were being sold off, down to the last nut and bolt!

Acting on a tip-off that new cars were being driven into the premises regularly but never came out, the Delhi police conducted a raid on the said place and uncovered this operation. Two key persons involved in this shady business were arrested on the spot.

Upon interrogation, they revealed that they had dismantled over 100 cars in the past 4-odd years in the same "factory" premises, and often the targeted stolen vehicles were broken into, driven into the "workshop", and completely dismantled within an hour!

What the cops saw inside blew them away . There were five stolen cars, piles of tyres, 25 engines, 11 CNG kits and 20 car batteries apart from scores of car windows, shockers, tailpipes, radiators etc.

The building was a workshop run by a gang of car thieves. A car worth Rs 10 lakh was sold for less than a lakh in parts. Cops estimate that more than 3,000 cars were dismantled and sold by the gang in the past year.

Two key accused, Imran, 30, and Salman, 22, who were car mechanics by day and alleged thieves by night, were arrested. At the time of the raid, they were `working on' a Honda City stolen last week. Raids are on to nab others.

Hardly any car part went unsold. While the engines and CNG kits were shipped to sellers in old Delhi and UP, other parts went to known receivers. Even the nuts and bolts were sold to scrap dealers. The workshop was swept clean every week.

The police recovered a huge inventory of parts which they learnt had accumulated in the past four days.

The police have also seized a tool-kit, a 20-piece set of spanners and screwdrivers, used to open up cars. A gas cutter and an LPG cylinder have also been recovered.

The City was found to be stolen from Malviya Nagar on May 18.

ET

[fine69]

Seems like somebody didn't get their cut on time. Its impossible to dismantle cars for over 4 years in any of the industrial areas in Delhi and authorities not noticing it.

[hybridpetrol]

A car worth Rs 10 lakh was sold for less than a lakh in parts. Cops estimate that more than 3,000 cars were dismantled and sold by the gang in the past year.

ET

A car is considered a very important possession by many, next to their homes. The price of the car is determined usually by the aspirational value put into them by the buyers (not as the sum of nuts & bolts costing 1 rupee each). Many men are very emotional about their cars, somewhat equivalent to how women are sentimental about gold.
For buying a car of Rs.10 lakh, families put their savings together, and also pledge their future 7 years income in the form of bank loans.

The same car, in the hands of these lowlifes are broken down to pieces and sold to less than 1 lakh rupees! And there is a whole network to buy these stuff at cheap prices and sell it to unsuspecting customers via FNGs in the form of cheap spare parts, as an alternative to a little bit pricier genuine spare parts! Wow, what a business model to thrive in our economy!
The same product's price is reduced to 0.1x and then increased to 0.8x thereby, different parties involved eating a pie out of this 0.8x - while the original car owner who lost the car pays 1.5x including interest to the banks, without having a car to drive!
Except for the 2 people who are caught, everybody else in the loop would plead ignorance of this car theft, and the 2 people will probably be in jail for next 6 months. They should be back by next summer to build their factory somewhere else, so they can satisfy their "customers" who are waiting for various spares.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by fine69

Seems like somebody didn't get their cut on time. Its impossible to dismantle cars for over 4 years in any of the industrial areas in Delhi and authorities not noticing it.

Exactly, how can one 'unearth' a factory? These guys must be bringing in 3 cars a day to dismantle. And if they seriously took 4 years to make this discovery then even God can't save this country.

[vdm295]

Originally Posted by sourabhzen

Exactly, how can one 'unearth' a factory? These guys must be bringing in 3 cars a day to dismantle. And if they seriously took 4 years to make this discovery then even God can't save this country.

It's just unbelievable. Never heard about anything like this. How can this be happening & nobody knows about such a big car breaking factory runned by bunch of thieves. It's definitely not possible that the local authorities wouldn't be knowing about this.

[amolbh]

Possibly OT.

I have seen about 5-6 car shells - cars stripped out of literally every last nut and bolt, lying around on footpaths in the shady parts of BKC. Going by the bodies, they definitely weren't accident vehicles, and neither were they old enough to be scrapped. They seemed to be stolen cars. Any idea?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Many men are very emotional about their cars, somewhat equivalent to how women are sentimental about gold.
For buying a car of Rs.10 lakh, families put their savings together, and also pledge their future 7 years income in the form of bank loans.

That's why we have insurance. Sure, there is some loss even after the insurance payout, but hey, that's the cost of car ownership.

Related Thread: Link (ARTICLE: How to protect your car from THEFT)

[RickyC]

We just had a brand new (unregistered) fortuner stolen in our immediate neighbourhood last night in East Delhi even with CCTV surveillance all along... wonder if it would end up with buyer in a distant state/border Nepal or such a fishy 'car factory'... leaving the owners totally perplexed and dejected.

[MARCUS_520i]

Originally Posted by amolbh

Possibly OT.

I have seen about 5-6 car shells - cars stripped out of literally every last nut and bolt, lying around on footpaths in the shady parts of BKC. Going by the bodies, they definitely weren't accident vehicles, and neither were they old enough to be scrapped. They seemed to be stolen cars. Any idea?

Bandra Kurla Complex extends to the famous C.S.T. Road(Kurla West), which houses the largest junkyard/spare part mecca in the city(if not the state of Maharashtra).
BKC also has a Honda Workshop(Arya Honda), that takes up major work jobs, for it's customers.

The picture that you've attached, is that of a body shell of a Honda Civic, that was involved in an accident, before it landed there(notice the RHS rear). Hence, it's quite possible, that either it belongs to Arya Honda(post being written off), or C.S.T. Road(post being written off), or both(came to Honda first, then spares got sold off to C.S.T. Road, body shell going to metal mart). Just a guesstimation!

[anjan_c2007]

What are immobilisers for ? They do not allow any other master key to start the engine. So do these thieves break into, unlock and push the car to their workplace ?

Despite the immobiliser and so many other safety devices, the thieves are surely many steps ahead. So why does SIAM the Society of Indian Automobile manufacturers take note? Can they not employ these thieves who are arrested to make more theft proof cars ?

The answer is a "NO" because if your car is stolen, the owner gets his insurance claims and has to surely buy a new car. SIAM gains here by way of car sales. And they are devising newer ways to sell more cars. They want old cars to be scrapped and would also perhaps like new cars to be stolen.

[vishy76]

Looks like modern thieves are way ahead of manufacturers when it comes to the mechanics of the car.I cannot imagine something like this happening to our Jetta,even though she is always parked inside the complex.
On a related note,are these the parts which are sold of as refurbished ones in the used market for low prices?Could this be a possibility?
A friends one month old Tavera was stolen recently outside his bungalow.The thieves reportedly pushed the car away and found a way to start it.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

What are immobilisers for ? They do not allow any other master key to start the engine. So do these thieves break into, unlock and push the car to their workplace ?

Immobilisers are a deterrent, but not theft-proof .

So why does SIAM the Society of Indian Automobile manufacturers take note? Can they not employ these thieves who are arrested to make more theft proof cars ?

I don't think we can blame SIAM or the car manufacturers. Mercedes - with all its luxury & tech - remains the most stolen premium car in the USA - related link.

Originally Posted by vishy76

even though she is always parked inside the complex.

Safe parking with a locked gate and / or security guard is among the best deterrents you can have .

[fine69]

Originally Posted by vishy76

On a related note,are these the parts which are sold of as refurbished ones in the used market for low prices?Could this be a possibility?

A few years back Honda City's ORVM used to be the hottest selling item in the used market but thanks to so many other premium cars with expensive ORVMs it has lost its no. 1 spot now.

A friend was upset when his Safari's electronic ORVMs were stolen, most likely by some hobo/ drug addict because they were common in his locality during the night. Since I had experienced something similar earlier, I took him to the (in)famous Jama Masjid market and he had a pair of Safari ORVMs for 1500 bucks (or was it 1200) in about an hour (this was 3-4 years back though). We got them painted in Karol Bagh, waited a few hours and drove back with new shiny ORVMs.

Originally Posted by vishy76

A friends one month old Tavera was stolen recently outside his bungalow.The thieves reportedly pushed the car away and found a way to start it.

The only reason someone would push a car a little away from its parked spot is to avoid waking the owner up. Else, pushing a car requires more effort, time and has a far greater chance of landing you in trouble.

However, if they are able to push it and drive away without the owner waking up, then they are about 300-400 kms away before the owner realizes what happened, decent headstart you see.

This reminds me of the top cop's Safari getting stolen and police still recovering it after a month or two. A lot of pressure gets built up in a situation like this. The thieves don't care much about who they are stealing from. Its the other big folks involved, like the dealer who will ultimately dispose of the car with another regn. plate, new chassis no. etc. I'm not sure which gen Safari this one was but if it was prev-gen then it used to come with bolt-on Engine/Chassis no. instead of it being engraved. It was one of the easiest to convert to another regn no. but these dealers also know when to avoid getting into trouble. Instead, they coughed up the Safari back so that they can get back to doing what they were doing.

[GTO]

Somewhat related article. ET reporters witness a car being dismantled in 1.5 hours!

Link

Avijit Ghosh and Neeraj Paul witness a part-by-part dismantling of a 15-year-old car in Mayapuri, home to one of Asia's biggest scrap market. A minute-by-minute account

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by GTO

Somewhat related article. ET reporters witness a car being dismantled in 1.5 hours!

Reminds me of this old video - less than 6 minutes to take off some high-value parts (yes, not the entire car like what happens in a chop shop).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hhNwcaEwHI