: The sleuths of Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force busted an international smartphones smuggling and mobile phone theft gang with the arrest of 31 people including a Sudanese National. As many as 713 smart phones, an auto rickshaw, two computers and a laptop, all worth over Rs.2 crore were seized from the possession of arrested persons.
Of the 31 people, 15 of them were phone snatchers while 11 were receivers of stolen phones and four of them were technicians, who unlock the stolen mobile phones and temper with the IMEI numbers. The arrested Sudan national has been identified as Mohammed Musa Hassan Gamaralanbia, 26, a phone accessories businessman and resident of Bhismillah Residency in Nanalnagar and native of Gabr at Khartom in Sudan According to police, Hyderabad has been witnessing a spate of mobile phone snatchings and even a murder took place in recent times. While investigating these incidents, it was found that a major criminal network has been operating in the city involving cell phone theft offenders and a host of receivers of these stolen cell phones are into the business of unlawful transport of handsets to sell them for illegal profits.
Further, several stolen cell phones are being dismantled in markets apart from changing IMEI numbers and resultant components such as mobile screen, camera, speaker. The components were subsequently being used as replacement parts for existing damaged mobiles received from customers at fewer prices in comparison to ori.
