International smart phone snatching and smuggling racket busted, 17 held

City Police Commissioner K.Sreenivasa Reddy in a press conference said in the recent times the city has seen a rise in mobile phone snatching and thefts across the police commissionerate.

Hyderabad: In one of the major busts in recent times, the Task Force (South) along with the Bandlaguda police cracked an international smart phone snatching and smuggling racket and arrested 17 suspects including 5 Sudanese nationals on Friday.

Police recovered 703 stolen smart phones of various mobile phone brands, altogether worth RS 1.75 crore and a bike. The arrested persons are Mohd.Muzammil; Syed Abrar; Syed Saleem; Pathan Rabbani Khan; Mohd Athar; Mohd Zakir; Shaik Azhar; Mohd Khaja Nizamuddin; Syed Layeeq; Shaik Azhar Moinuddin; Mohd Shafi and J.Yalamanda Reddy, all natives of Hyderabad and Khalid Abdelbagi Mohamed Albadwi; Abdalelah Ahmed Osman Babiker; Aymn Mohammed Salih Abdalla; Anas Siddig Abdelgader Ahmed and Omer Abdalla Eltayeb Mohamed, all from Sudan and staying in Hyderabad.

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City Police Commissioner K.Sreenivasa Reddy in a press conference said in the recent times the city has seen a rise in mobile phone snatching and thefts across the police commissionerate.

To curb this menace and to understand the pattern of these offences, a thorough investigation was undertaken by the Hyderabad police.

Under this, it was found that a major criminal network has been operating in the city involving cell phone snatchers, a host of receivers of these stolen goods, and also traders both local and global who are in the illegal business of smuggling cell phones out of the country to sell them to other places for illegal profits.

“Further, several stolen cell phones are also being dismantled in niche markets and the resultant components such as mobile screens, cameras, speakers are subsequently being used by them for illegal profits,” said Sreenivasa Reddy.

Further investigation revealed that several stolen mobile phones which were being dismantled in markets and the resultant components such as mobile screens, cameras, speakers are subsequently being used as replacement parts for existing damaged mobiles received from customers at a fraction of the price in comparison to the original company rates.

Further investigation is underway in the case.