The police were tipped off about the gang being present in the Sector-38A mall, near the Sector 18 market, last night. The gang was arrested from outside the mall. Anil Samania, station house officer of the Sector 39 Police Station, said, "We had information that some members of the gang were present around the mall and some suspicious activity had also been noticed."

While some members were arrested at the mall, others, the police said, were arrested after their interrogation. The police were helped by an electronic surveillance team that tracked down the location of the other men using their cell phone numbers. Paresh Pandey, SP (City), said, "The total number of members in the gang is close to 15 and they are hardened criminals, so we relied on the electronic surveillance team to arrest them."

The arrested men — Tajvir (alias Raju), Rajiv, Kallu (alias Yasir), Guddu (alias Vishnu), Muzir (alias Imran), Shakib (alias Tarun), Akhlakh (alias Chuhiya), and Bharat — have been active in Noida for quite a long time, the police said. "Their modus operandi is smart and they had developed a whole network to sell off the stolen cars in other areas," Pandey said.

The gang had a hideout near Batla House in Jasola, Delhi, where the cars were "treated", the police said. The recovered cars include makes like Optra, Innova, Lancer, Accent, Qualis, Honda City, Santro, Scorpio, Wagon R, Maruti 800 and Indica.