New Delhi: A total of 294 stolen phones worth over Rs 50 lakh were recovered from a gang involved in smuggling stolen phones to Bangladesh for sale.Eight members of the gang were caught in Delhi and Kolkata.According to police, the gang sourced the phones from pickpockets, robbers and snatchers operating on buses, then sent them to Kolkata.From there, the phones were smuggled across the Indo-Bangladesh border into the neighbouring country. One of the accused, residing in the border area, assisted the gang with local contacts and relatives in Bangladesh.DCP (south) Ankit Chauhan formed a team under inspector Umesh Yadav. “Acting on a tip-off, four accused — Dinesh (52), Rizwan (38), Ravi (30), and Ajay (41) — were caught on July 27. Police recovered 38 phones from them, and they were all found to have previous involvement in theft cases,” DCP Chauhan said.The officer added: “During police interrogation, the accused disclosed that the stolen phones were being supplied to Vichitra (30). He was caught with five mobile phones in his possession on Aug 7.”Vichitra told police that the phones were being collected by and transported to Kolkata by Mohammad Mojahir (36). After confirming the involvement of Mojahir through technical surveillance, police established that he was in frequent contact with Mohammad Khalid (50), a resident of Nadia in West Bengal.“A team sent to Kolkata on Aug 21 caught Khalid at his residence, where 30 mobile phones were found. He disclosed to police that he had recently obtained phones from Mojahir during his last visit on Aug 12,” added DCP Chauhan. “He was produced before a court in Kolkata on Aug 22, when a 3-day transit remand was granted.”Further investigation revealed that Mojahir and his associate, Shivam Kumar Jha (22), used to travel to Kolkata frequently. Based on this information, both were apprehended on Aug 23 in Delhi. A total of 75 mobile phones were recovered from them.Police found that Khalid, Mojahir and Shivam were operating in close coordination and conducted multiple financial transactions through UPI. Khalid is believed to have received around 1,000 mobile phones from Mojahir in the past. All three have been arrested. Police found that Mojahir has previous involvement in eight theft cases across Delhi and Kolkata. While Khalid also has prior involvement in Kolkata, Shivam has involvement in a case of theft in Delhi.Cops said that through digital analysis of Khalid’s phone, the team found that stolen mobile phones were being smuggled to three active Bangladeshi numbers. Efforts are underway to trace these foreign handlers and establish their role.
