THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city shadow police have arrested two men for stealing mobile phones from unsuspecting people. Nisam, 30, of Mannurkonam near Tholicode, and Aneesh, 20, of Veeranakav, were arrested by the Museum Police for stealing around 20 mobile phones.
According to the police, the duo used to travel in a bike dressed as gentlemen and conned people into giving them their mobile phones to make urgent calls. After getting hold of the phone, one of them pretended as if he was making a call, while the other would be waiting nearby with the bike. Soon, they would vanish with the phone.
Several people, including migrant labourers, had complained of losing their phones in this manner. Eventually, the stolen phones with prices ranging from Rs 15,000 to 30,000 were sold to shops in Beemapally for as low as Rs 2,000.
The shadow police squad was formed to track the culprits after several such cases were reported from the city.After the duo were arrested, the police conducted raids at their homes and several stolen mobiles were recovered. One of the arrested, Aneesh, has ganja cases against his name at Kattakada and Maranalloor police stations.