Investigations into the theft of a single cell phone led the Mankhurd police to an international racket where cell phones stolen in Mumbai were allegedly being sold all over India as well as abroad. The police have arrested seven accused in connection with the case and seized stolen cell phones worth over Rs 17 lakh so far.
According to the Mankhurd police, investigations were first started in this regard after a Mumbai resident registered a complaint with them about his cell phone being snatched on July 11 this year. The complainant was waiting for an autorickshaw on the Mankhurd Govandi Link Road while also speaking on the phone at the same time, when two men on a scooter snatched his phone and sped away.
“After we registered the complaint, we made inquiries among several local informants and identified the accused, who was picked up on Thursday. We arrested him and interrogated him, after which he revealed that he had sold the cell phone to a gang that specialised in buying stolen cell phones,” said an officer with the Mankhurd police station.
Acting on this information, the police conducted a raid at a residential building in Shivaji Nagar, where three more accused were arrested. The police found stolen cell phones worth Rs 10.84 lakh from the trio and arrested them on Friday. Based on their interrogation, the police went on to raid two more locations in Lallubhai Compound in Mankhurd and one in Nityanand Nagar, Ghatkopar, arresting three more accused and recovering a further stash of cell phones worth Rs seven lakh.
“Inquiries so far indicate that the accused would buy stolen cell phones from habitual offenders, and then sell them in Nepal, Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata. These are just some locations we have confirmed over the last two days and we suspect that the scope of the racket extends to other countries as well. The orders were accepted online and the phones were then sent via courier. We are probing further,” the officer said.
Senior police inspector Mahadev Koli, Mankhurd police station added that the names of the seven arrested accused have been deliberately withheld for the moment.
“We already have information about a lot more people being involved and we are in the process of tracing and apprehending them. This is a huge racket with multiple people operating at several levels,” Koli said.
