Parksite Police arrested six men and unearthed a mobile theft racket, wherein the accused tampered with the IMEI numbers of the handsets for illegal purposes. Police have raided two premises and recovered equipment and vehicles worth Rs 2.67 lakh used for the crime. All the accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and were produced in a local magistrate court. They were remanded in police custody till August 31.
On August 25, a motorcyclist and the pillion rider snatched a 23-year-old man's mobile phone, after which the latter alerted the public and two policemen, who were patrolling, nabbed the mobile snatchers. Police nabbed Yusuf Shaikh, 24, with a black motorcycle, which had no number plates. Based on questioning, his aide Nadeem Shaikh, 21, was also arrested.
During interrogation, the arrested duo revealed that they were involved in mobile snatching in several areas like Ghatkopar, Chembur and Dadar, among others, and would later give the stolen handsets to four people-- Mohammad Shaikh, 46, Iqbal Khan, 32, Salman Siddiqui, 36 and Sabir Khan, 34, who would use a software to change the IMEI number of the handsets to evade being traced and later sell the stolen handsets as new. Following this revelation, police arrested the four and booked them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Police also raided their premises and recovered mobile phones, motorcycles and other items worth Rs 2.67 lakh from them. They were all remanded in police custody till August 31 and police are investigating the matter further.
