Mobile theft probe leads to inter-city bike theft racket

Mumbai An investigation into a mobile phone theft case led Trombay police to a gang of inter-city motorbike thieves, who would steal bikes from Pune and use them to commit street crimes in Mumbai, and also supply stolen bikes from Mumbai to criminals in Pune

Mumbai An investigation into a mobile phone theft case led Trombay police to a gang of inter-city motorbike thieves, who would steal bikes from Pune and use them to commit street crimes in Mumbai, and also supply stolen bikes from Mumbai to criminals in Pune. While one of the accused is a minor, the other two are still behind bars, with police stations lining up to seek their custody, over two weeks after their arrest.

One of the accused, Mohammed Aqib Ansari.

According to Trombay police, investigations were initiated into the racket in June last year, after a Cheetah Camp resident lodged a complaint about his mobile phone being stolen from his house. Over the next seven months, the police obtained and verified the possible involvement of scores of suspects, by seeking information about anyone trying to sell stolen mobile phones.

“As a rule, criminal elements have fixed buyers for stolen phones, who recycle the handset’s IMEI numbers and sell them on a second-hand basis. During the probe, we learned that a certain gang was selling not just stolen mobile phones but also stolen motorbikes,” said an officer with the Trombay police.

“Our information indicated that one such accused had recently stolen a mobile phone in Nerul in Navi Mumbai, and we had also spotted the suspect — in our case — leaving Cheetah Camp on a bike, minutes after the phone was stolen,” said the officer.

The investigating team then obtained CCTV footage of the Nerul case, where a bike-borne accused had snatched mobile phone of a pedestrian and confirmed that the man was involved in both cases.

Using human intelligence, the police on February 5 zeroed in on the accused, Mohammed Aqib Ansari (25), an auto-rickshaw driver staying in Cheetah Camp. The police recovered three mobile phones and a motorbike from him, all of which turned out to be stolen from different locations in Mumbai. He was also found to be in possession of a bunch of ignition keys and tools used in stealing vehicles.

“Aqib’s interrogation led us to his accomplice, Waliullah Shah (22), who was arrested on February 6. His arrest also resulted in the recovery of two more stolen bikes, and he also gave up the identity of the key man in the racket; a 16-year-old employee with a garage, who used his technical knowledge to steal the bikes. It was also at this stage that we learned that the racket was not just limited to Mumbai and Navi Mumbai but also extended all the way to Pune,” said the officer.

Over the next two days, the police recovered four more stolen bikes, two of which were found in Mumbai and the other two in Pune.

“The minor accused has a relative in Pune and every time he would go visiting, he could come back with a stolen bike, which would be used for joyriding or as a getaway vehicle in mobile thefts. Similarly, two bikes stolen from Mumbai had been delivered to Pune to be used by criminal gangs over there,” the officer said.

The minor accused has been sent to the children’s home in Dongri, while Ansari and Shah are still doing rounds of various police stations, who have queued up to seek their custody in mobile or bike thefts registered with them, including Deonar and Shivaji Nagar in Mumbai and Nerul and Kharghar in Navi Mumbai, said officers.