Police nab gang that stole mobile phones

The police on Monday arrested an inter-state gang of 10 that stole mobile phones and seized 563 cell phones worth Rs 1.25 crore.

Nine of them are local residents and one is from Hyderabad. The gang also operated in other states, the police said.

The police formed a special team in view of the spurt in mobile thefts in the city, which resulted in assault and even murder in some cases, and pursued the thieves who moved about in bikes and autorickshaws. Around four of the arrested individuals confessed to the police that they had observed unsuspecting victims with their mobile phones, approached them as if to ask something and fled the spot after snatching the devices. They handed over the stolen mobiles to another team that cleaned up the memory and sold them for a cheaper rate in other states.

With the arrest of the gang, the police have cracked more than 500 mobile snatching cases in SJ Park, Cubbon Park and Ashok Nagar jurisdictions.

The police also recovered two autorickshaws, a bike and Rs 26,000 in cash from the gang. The devices they seized include nearly 91 Xiaomi phones, 81 Samsung models, 12 iPhones and 51 Vivo handsets.