Mumbai gang which sold stolen mobiles in Bangladesh and Nepal busted

The crime branch of Mumbai Police has busted a gang of mobile thieves who sold stolen handsets to dealers in Bangladesh and Nepal by changing the IMEI, an official said on Thursday.

The arrested men were identified as `gang leader' Sameer Shaikh (35), Mohammad Waju Shaikh (29), Mohsin Abdul Shaikh (32), all residents of suburban Govandi, and Sunny Bhola Yadav (24), a resident of Mira Road area in Thane, he said.

All four were nabbed by a crime branch team from Hazrat Nizamuddin area in Delhi, he said.

The gang members would steal mobile phones or buy stolen phones from others, change their unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers and sent them to other states as well as Nepal and Bangladesh for resale, he said.

During a raid, Unit 6 of the crime branch recovered 248 smartphones valued at around Rs 42.94 lakh and laptop and other equipment worth Rs 1.29 lakh, said DCP Datta Nalawade (Detection -1).

The gang members changed their location very frequently. On October 11, the crime branch received a tip-off that they were in Delhi- Agra region and they were nabbed, he said.

The mobile phones which passed through their hands had been stolen from the jurisdiction of 13 police stations in Mumbai, mostly in the suburbs, DCP Nalawade said, adding that probe was on.