Mumbai mobile phone heist: Man held, 235 stolen phones recovered

Mumbai city news: A 36-year-old man from Jharkhand was arrested

The Kasturba Marg police have arrested a 36-year-old man from Jharkhand in connection with a burglary case involving a theft of 237 high-end phones worth Rs71.13lakh from a shop on Main Carter Road at Borivli (East) on June 27.

The police have recovered 235 phones from an under-construction site at Ghatkopar.

According to the police, the arrested man, identified as Abdul Sattar Shaikh, and his four accomplices drilled a hole into the rooftop of the shop to gain entry at night. The stolen phones include those of iPhone, HTC, Samsung, Sony and Oppo. They also broke the safe and pilfered Rs5 lakh cash.

The shop owner, Ramnik Satra, 42, noticed the missing cellphones and the hole in the rooftop in the morning after which he registered a complaint with Kasturba Marg police station.

“Our team traced the accused in Jharkhand from where he was arrested. We have recovered 235 mobile phones during the investigation. We are yet to arrest his four accomplices,” said Dr. Vinay Kumar Rathod, deputy commissioner of police, Zone XII.

The police identified Shaikh with the help of CCTV footage. He has three cases registered at the Mumbai police crime branch, DB Marg police station in Mumbai and Kalamboli police station in Navi Mumbai.

During interrogation, the police learnt that Shaikh had hidden the stolen mobile phones at an under construction site in Ghatkopar.

The police said two of the gang had conducted reconnaissance at the store before looting the store.