The arrest of a man near the India-Nepal border on Sunday with a car stolen from the city has blown the lid off an international racket.

A probe into the theft of five luxury cars in Calcutta set city police on the trail of the gang. The officers have found that the gang sold the cars in neighbouring countries like Nepal.

“This is a significant change. We had only come across gangs that stole cars from the city and sold them in the neighbouring states, especially Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and the Northeast,” said deputy commissioner of police (detective department) Gyanwant Singh.

“It is a common practice among motorcycle thieves to sell the engines in Bangladesh. For four-wheelers, this is a new trend,” added Singh.

The customs department detained a man, identified as Dinesh Shaw, at Sonauli, in Uttar Pradesh, near the border. He was driving a Santro Xing, which had been stolen from Posta in Calcutta.

A team of cops travelled to Uttar Pradesh and arrested Shaw.

“The arrest was possible because we had issued a lookout notice with the registration number of the car. We have obtained some vital leads from Shaw and should be able to track down his associates,” stated Singh.

According to police records, the five cars were stolen in the first week of this month. “We thought it was the handiwork of an inter-state gang. So, we started zeroing in on the grey markets of our neighbouring states,” said an officer of the detective department’s motor theft wing.

Another officer explained why the gang had chosen Nepal: “There are several entry points into the country from Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Besides, stolen cars fetch more in Nepal than in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The gang might have been forced to look beyond borders, as they found inter-state operation more difficult.”

The deputy commissioner elaborated on the modus operandi of the gang: “It does not go in for small cars. It targets luxury cars that are likely to lure buyers. We have found that the five cars were stolen while they were parked on the road. The thieves broke open a window to enter the vehicles and then opened the bonnets to start them.”

He added: “We have asked our counterparts in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to maintain a vigil near the border.”