New Delhi, Jun 6 (IANS): With the arrest of three men, the Delhi Police has busted a nexus of inter-state high-tech thieves involved in stealing high end luxury cars in Delhi-NCR, an official said on Tuesday.

The Police have also recovered eight luxury SUVs from the possession of the accused, said the official, adding that the accused used to steal luxury SUVs from Delhi on demand and dispose off them in Maharashtra at cheaper rates.

They were identified as Pawan (43), a resident of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, Shahid (50), a resident of Sambhal, UP and Mazhar Khan (41), a resident of Jalgaon in Maharashtra.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chandan Chowdhary said that a police team was formed to develop clues about the nexus behind the thefts. On a manual information network it was revealed that a UP, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab based nexus was behind these thefts of luxury SUVs in South Delhi.

"After that, the team purified the key inputs and dug out some more important inputs through manual as well as technical surveillance. Subsequently, a specific tip off was received that a Meerut based person committing auto thefts would come to the CR Park area via Outer Ring Road," said the DCP.

A trap was laid around the CR Park area via Outer Ring Road and Pawan was nabbed by the police team. "Upon his cursory search, one sophisticated single shot countrymade pistol along with two live cartridges of .315 bore were recovered from his possession. On enquiry, the car he was driving was found to be stolen from the Tilak Nagar area," said Chowdhary.

During interrogation, one more car was recovered at Pawan's instance, which was found to be stolen from the Keshav Puram area of Delhi.

"Further, on May 31 and June 1, the team received another credible input that UP and Maharashtra based two auto thieves would come to the Saket area. Immediately, the information was further developed and the team laid a trap and both the accused -- Shahid and Mazhar Khana -- were arrested," said the DCP.

At the instance of Mazhar, more stolen luxury SUVs were recovered from Delhi and Maharashtra.

On interrogation, the thieves revealed that they used to dispose off the stolen vehicles through social media platforms.

"The accused Shahid disclosed that he along with his associate Mazhar, especially used to steal luxury SUVs from Delhi on demand and dispose off them in Maharashtra," said the official.