Jamshedpur, July 3: An interstate gang of car lifters was busted with the arrest of two persons from Sakchi today with police making their catch after tracing a stolen mobile that was in their possession.

Interrogation of the arrested duo — Santosh Singh and Sanjay Singh of Bhojpur district in Bihar — revealed that the kingpin of the 15-member gang had been arrested in Bihar last month.

A police team was now on way to interrogate Dasrath Singh, lodged in Nawada jail.

The police said the criminals had stolen a car from Bistupur on April 29 and SUVs from Govindpur on January 6 and Burmamines on April 27. A mobile phone that was on the dashboard of one of the vehicles had also been stolen.

East Singhbhum district superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh said the breakthrough came after the police tracked the missing phone. He said the gang operated in Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand and had stolen 11 cars from these states.

Three vehicles were stolen from Jamshedpur, five from Arah, one from Bengal and two from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.

“The gang members stayed in cheap lodges or hotels, registering themselves under false names and addresses. And after stealing a vehicle, they abandoned the hotels where they had been staying,” Singh told The Telegraph.

They would then drive to Bihar and sell the cars. One of the vehicles stolen belonged to a marriage party that had come to Govindpur from Chaibasa.

Singh said those arrested had revealed the names of those who bought the stolen vehicles and the place of the transactions.

“We are sending a police team to Bihar and other places for tracing the stolen cars,” he said, adding that the team would also interrogate the gang’s kingpin who was arrested with two stolen vehicles.