SHILLONG: A team of Meghalaya police recently went to Imphal West, Manipur and recovered   four stolen vehicles from a racket of car thieves.

SP (City) Vivek Syiem informed that recently four cases were registered in Shillong against one Thiyam Anand Kumar Singh of Imphal, Manipur, who had taken 11 high-end vehicles from the state on hire, for the purpose of the recent elections at Manipur. All the vehicles were bought by owners with car-finance.

The vehicles were, however, not returned after the election. An advance was also paid to the owners as security by Thiyam Anand Kumar Singh.

Syiem said that his modus operandi would be that once the vehicles leave the state, the engine/chassis numbers of the vehicles are tampered and those are re-registered to avoid detection.

In light of the FIRs, a Meghalaya Police team went to Imphal West in Manipur recently and recovered four vehicles – Maruti Swift Dzire Vxi(White) (ML/5/TMP/2016/474), Toyota Innova (Beach color) (ML-05-M-6738,) Ford Eco Sport (ML-05-L-7907) and XUV 500 (White) (MN-01-AK-1618).

However, Thiyam Anand Kumar Singh and others involved are absconding. Efforts are still on to nab the culprits and recover the rest of the vehicles.

Police have also advised to those giving vehicles on hire (especially those vehicles which are still under finance) to be cautious while giving out vehicles on hire to those outside the state as this has been a new modus operandi of car racketeers.