With the arrests of the accused, 32 stolen vehicles and tools used for auto theft, including portable drill machines and duplicate keys, were recovered.

In the first operation, a Crime Branch team kept a special watch in the vicinity of various sports complexes in Dwarka and Paschim Vihar after the areas witnessed a sudden increase in vehicle thefts.

On January 1, Ravi, a known auto-lifter, was apprehended after the police laid a trap near the sports complex in Dwarka. Ravi led to the arrest of three others, Manish, Rakesh Kumar and Anil Kumar.

The police said Manish and Ravi are cousins and operated in pair. One of them kept a watch on the car owner inside public parks and swimming pools, while the other broke open the car and drove away. If the one keeping vigil would see the owner coming back, he would alert the other via mobile phone. The police have recovered 21 cars, 60 duplicate keys, a drill machine and a toolkit from them

In the second operation, two Haryana residents, Surender Singh and Surender Kumar, were arrested for interstate motor-vehicle thefts. Kumar is a student of Mechanical Engineering at Sir Chhotu Ram College of Engineering in Rohtak.

The police said the accused stole the cars and delivered them to their gang in Rohtak, which forged their papers sold them in the second-hand market.