Cross-border gang of mobile thieves held

A Nepalese woman, her husband and two others have been arrested on charges of running an international racket of stolen mobile phones. Eighty mobile phones, two laptops and a camera were recovered from them.

A Nepalese woman, her husband and two others have been arrested on charges of running an international racket of stolen mobile phones. Eighty mobile phones, two laptops and a camera were recovered from them.

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The arrested have been identified as Girish Ojha (29), his wife Devki (22), Shyam Mahajan (39), all from Kathmandu, and Mohd Zakir (27) from East Delhi’s Seelampur.

“They used to buy stolen mobiles and then dispose them off in Nepal and Bangladesh,” said HGS Dhaliwal, deputy commissioner of police (south).

The arrests came after investigators found out that in many cases, the IMEIs of stolen mobile phones were not activated in mobile networks of Indian cellular companies.

“We noticed that IMEIs of stolen mobiles have been changed or the same have been sold to gangs operating in countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. We received an input about Mahajan’s gang and caught them on Saturday from near PVR Saket,” Dhaliwal said.

Initial investigation has revealed that the gang used to purchase stolen mobiles, laptops and other valuable articles from various Indian sources at very cheap rates and sell the same in Nepali markets at higher prices.

“They were well-acquainted with the fact that there was no risk of tracking mobile phones in Nepali cellular network, they chose to dispose off the stolen mobiles in Nepal,” added Dhaliwal. “It was Devika who used to carry stolen mobiles and other articles to Nepal because usually women were hardly checked by police,” said.

“The gang used to send small consignments through airways and for bigger consignments they used to prefer trains. The members of this gang have been actively involved in such criminal activities for the last four-five years,” Dhaliwal said.

Mahajan would visit often India to buy garments for his shop in Kathmandu. It was during one such visit that he came in contact with one Liyaqat Ali Malik, who used to sell mobile phones in Karol Bagh and started his operations. “Initially, Mahajan crossed the border by road but soon, police apprehended him. Hence, he decided to take the air route and invloved Girish and Devika in his gang,” informed Dhaliwal.