Two youngsters stealing laptops and high-end mobile phones from private hostels for boys, along with a person purchasing the articles stolen by them, were arrested by the police on Saturday.
One of the accused, Shaik Saleem, met his accomplice Syed Abdul Mazeed in prison after both were arrested in different theft cases nearly three months ago. After release from the prison on bail, the duo started targeting hostels in S.R. Nagar, Madhapur, Chandanagar, Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills where many students and employees of IT companies reside.
The duo would enter the hostels in the early hours on the pretext of searching for their friend. They would knock on the door of a room. If the inmates wake up and ask who they were, the offenders would take some fictitious name and ask for that person. With the inmates’ reply on predictably in the negative, they would excuse themselves and proceed to another room.
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“If the room is not bolted from inside and the inmates are asleep, they collect whatever valuable article is found and slip out,” the Hyderabad Central Crime Station Sub-Inspector S. Srinivas, who caught the offenders, said.
They would hand over the stolen goods to Mohd. Imran, who would sell the same and share the money with the offenders. Six stolen laptops, 25 mobile phones and two bikes purchased with the money obtained through sale proceeds of the stolen articles, were seized from them.