Seven members of a gang were arrested on Sunday and 131 mobile phones and an iPad, collectively worth over ₹11 lakh, were recovered from them. The phones were either stolen or snatched from people by the gang members in different parts of the city over the past three months, the police said.
The arrest was made by the Surat Crime Branch. “In the wake of rising incidents of mobile phones of autorickshaw passengers being stolen and other people’s phones being snatched by motorcycle-borne criminals, the Surat police had formed a team,” a Crime Branch official said.
Initially, four persons were arrested from an autorickshaw for their alleged involvement in stealing mobile phones of passengers.
“On interrogation, they named one Junaid Kapadiya, a second-hand mobile phone dealer. Based on their inputs, his house was raided and 131 mobile phones and an iPad, total worth ₹11.37 lakh, were recovered there. Besides, ₹12.9 lakh cash and a cash counting machine were recovered,” he said, adding Mr. Kapadiya was arrested.
Mr. Kapadiya had roped in around 10 people to steal phones, which he would buy from them and then sell them to Kasim alias Mamu, another accused from Botad, a town around 260 km from Surat.
“The mobile phones recovered from Mr. Kapadiya’s house are those that were stolen or snatched in three months. With today’s seizure, the police have cracked 16 cases registered across five police stations in the city,” the official said.
Six other arrested accused were identified as Azharuddin Sheikh, Sadiq Sheikh, Kalim Sheikh, Hafiz Firozkhan, Irfan Mansuri and Imran Mansuri.
