A car thief who used an electric gadget to steal an SUV as its owner slept has been jailed along with his gang, who grabbed £1.7million-worth of cars.CCTV footage captured Kabir Ahmed, 35, using a key emulator to unlock a vehicle parked outside a home in Brockley, southeast London, on July 10 last year.Wearing a baseball cap, he calmly climbed into the driver's seat and drove off, while accomplices followed in a stolen Toyota Prius.Ahmed was part of a gang with Mohammed Ahmed, 30, Muhammed Ali, 34, and Paul Barringer, 33, who snatched 73 cars 'to order' across the capital in just seven months.The gang searched through residential streets for SUVs during the day, before returning under the cover of darkness to take them. They also broke into homes to grab keys during the crime spree.Detectives launched an investigation in July 2024 after dozens of thefts were reported, and officers later found the group had used key emulators to drive away most of the vehicles.They were eventually caught by teams who tracked them down using a stolen car with false plates as they searched for targets and have now been jailed for a total of 18 years. Footage captured Kabir Ahmed using a key emulator to unlock the car parked outside a home in Brockley, southeast London on July 10 last year Wearing a baseball cap, he calmly climbed into the driver's seat and drove off, while accomplices followed in a stolen Toyota PriusSnaresbrook Crown Court heard officers trawled through CCTV and used forensic evidence to link the men to the crimes.They then watched as the gang took a vehicle from a street in Southwark and followed them back towards east London, before swooping in.Mohammed Ahmed, Ali and Barringer were arrested on the spot, with police recovering a reprogramming device from inside their car.Kabir Ahmed was detained a week later after being spotted climbing into a stolen Prius in Hornchurch. Another emulator was found on him at the time.The device, typically used by locksmiths, bypasses security systems by simulating a working key, allowing new keys to be programmed even when the originals are missing.The court heard vehicles were 'stolen to order' for customers abroad requesting specific makes including Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and Mitsubishi.Police officers were able to recover 27 of the stolen cars, but some had been shipped overseas in containers. The stolen vehicles were valued at between £1.1million and £1.7million.Mohammed Ahmed, of Bow, Ali, of Forest Gate, Kabir Ahhmed, of Hornchurch, and Barringer, of Southend-on-Sea, Essex, admitted conspiracy to steal motor vehicles and conspiracy to conceal criminal property.Mohammed Ahmed was jailed for five years, while Ali received five years and 10 months.Kabir Ahmed was locked up for four years and eight months, while Barringer was given two years and six months.According to Scotland Yard, vehicle thefts are down 18 per cent since the start of 2025 - 36,532 compared to 44,536 in the same period last year.Detective Inspector Damian Hill, who led the investigation from the Met's Specialist Crime Command, said: 'We know car theft has a significant impact on victims and across the Met we are focused on tackling it.'Through targeted patrols and operations like this we have reduced vehicle offences by 18 per cent.'This group has stolen dozens of cars and would have caused misery to the lives of many Londoners. 'By identifying and arresting these prolific offenders we prevented more people from becoming victims.'