A gang of nine alleged laptop lifters from Tamil Nadu, camping in Kharagpur, was arrested in New Market on Thursday.

Police said the nine, all in their mid-30s, were involved in at least eight cases of stealing laptops — mostly from cars — across the city. They were led by Adityam Soni.

“Some of the stolen laptops have been recovered, including one that the gang lifted in Bhubaneswar some time back,” said Jawed Shamim, the deputy commissioner of police (detective department). “One of the laptops has been recovered in Siliguri. It was possibly heading for Nepal.”

Shamim said the lifters had come to Kharagpur, in Midnapore West, a few weeks ago. “The gang had two collaborators — Dore Analindam and Rafique Ansari — in Bandel. “They, too, have been arrested.”

On Thursday, the thieves targeted a car parked near New Market. The owner had left his laptop on the rear seat, in the custody of the driver.

One of the gang members told the driver that a few currency notes were lying at his feet. The criminals had planned to take out the laptop after the driver would bend to check out whether what they were saying was true.

But the driver proved faster: as soon as he raised his head, he caught them in the act and raised an alarm. A police patrol team soon netted the gang.

An officer said the thieves had applied the same technique, with success, on a car driver in Gariahat on December 28. A while before, they had duped a businessman while he was entering a hotel on JL Nehru Road.

“The businessman was carrying a laptop, Rs 40,000 and National Savings Certificates worth around Rs 93,000 in a briefcase. One of the lifters hit him in the chest. As he slumped to the ground in pain, putting down the briefcase beside him, the gang members grabbed it and fled,” said a senior officer.

While the sleuths are not sure of the prices of the laptops, in some instances, a basic model will fetch anything between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000.