Seven cars were stolen from the new yard in Manappakkam of car manufacturer Hyundai, early on Wednesday morning, reported The New Indian Express. Police told TNIE that Hyundai had begun operations in the new yard just a few days earlier, and that the robbery was well-planned. The police suspect an insider’s role in the theft.

However, within the day, the Chennai police managed to track down five of the seven cars that had been stolen. Police said that while there was no CCTV camera in the car yard, footage from another CCTV camera installed in a building at Gangai Amman Koil street provided clues to the recovery of five of the seven cars which had been abandoned there.   

The police were also reportedly able to trace the shops from which duplicate number plates had been bought for disguising the stolen cars.

According to the police, when the abandoned cars were found, some had fake number plates fixed, but on others the number plates were only half-fixed. The police suspect that this indicates that the car thieves abandoned the vehicles as they realized they did not have the time to escape with all of the stolen vehicles.

Assistant Commissioner of Police P Ravisekar told TNIE, “The suspects would have escaped leaving behind the cars on hearing the siren of the patrolling vehicles. We have launched a hunt for the suspects and the remaining two cars.”

The city police on Wednesday informed all district police stations of the theft, and orders were issued for all new cars to be checked at toll gates and on highways.