Police display the gang of non local thieves who were involved in multiple thefts of mobile phones during press conference in Srinagar on Friday – KO Photo: Abid Bhat
Srinagar- Jammu and Kashmir police Friday said it has busted a mobile phone theft racket by arresting three persons, all residents of Delhi, and recovered stolen mobile phones worth Rs 26 lakh from their possession.
Addressing a press conference here, Srinagar Senior Superintendent of Police Haseeb Mughal said the investigation of the case went on for the last two months.
Giving details, the SSP said shopkeeper Mohammad Amir Malik, a resident of Deviangan Hawal area of the city, lodged a complaint in Nowhatta police station on July 4 that some unknown burglars barged into his mobile phone shop at Gojwara and decamped with mobile phones of different brands worth lakhs of rupees.
A case was registered and investigation taken up, he said.
During the probe, the services of forensic science laboratory (FSL) unit as well as electronic surveillance unit were utilised, the SSP said, adding that the tower dump of the area was analysed and IMEI numbers of stolen mobile phones put on surveillance for any lead in the case.
Mughal said an important clue emerged when a CCTV camera of a nearby shop recorded three suspects who seemed to be scrap collectors entering the mobile shop and leaving after sometime with some sacks.
On the basis of the CCTV footage, searches were carried out across the city in all the areas with settlements of non-local scrap collectors, he said.
After nearly two months, a stolen mobile phone became active with user location at New Delhi and the subscriber details record was found as Abdul Razaq Sheikh, a resident of JJ Colony in Bhawana area of Delhi, the SSP said.
In order to investigate the matter, a police party headed by an officer was deputed to Delhi and the accused was arrested on September 6 and during questioning, the accused disclosed that he had hidden stolen mobile phones at his residence, the SSP said.
On the disclosure of the accused, the police party recovered 112 mobile phones along with their accessories from the spot, he said.
The accused Razaq was later brought to Srinagar from New Delhi and again questioned and revealed names of his two associates as Mohammad Alamin Sheikh alias Faggu Shiekh and Mohammad Jahangir Sheikh both residents of Madanpur Khadar district in Sarita Vihar area of New Delhi and at present living in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.
The accused also disclosed that few mobile phones were dumped in the rented room of his associate Jahangir Sheikh.
The SSP said a police party was deputed towards Harnag in Anantnag and both the accused were arrested and 11 stolen mobile sets seized.
All the burglars were put to sustained questioning during which they revealed that they used to carry out a recce for their targets by posing as scrap collectors.
The Srinagar police was able to recover stolen items worth nearly Rs 26 lakh from the accused, he said.
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