NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has busted an interstate gang of thieves who were involved in stealing highly expensive Radio Remote Unit (RRU) installed at mobile towers. Four accused, identified as Puneet Kumar alias Bombay, Parveen Rana a.k.a Sonu Thakur, Sumit Rana, and a receiver of stolen RRUs namely Salman, were arrested by the cops.
The police have also recovered four stolen RRU valued at Rs 24 lakhs, 12 high-tech hardware and software tools from the possession of the accused.
RRU is the equipment installed in towers of mobile service providers and is used as trans-receiver in telecommunications which combines the functioning of transmission and receiving of mobile signals.
According to police, in view of the rise of theft of RRUs in the recent past a team was formed to nab the those involved in the incidents in Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida. The police team visited the locations of the thefts and collected CCTV footages. “The gathered information was then analysed both manually and technically, leading us to the mobile numbers belonging to some suspects,” DCP (Crime Branch) Rakesh Paweriya said.
By examining their call detail records, the police team established the routes taken by the suspects to reach the crime scenes, along with the corresponding timings. “Subsequently, the team successfully identified the three thieves. Further analysis of the call details showed that the mobile numbers of these suspects were also active in the areas from which the RRUs were stolen,” said the DCP.
On March 16, with the assistance of technical resources and local intelligence, the police intercepted three suspects, Puneet, Praveen, and Sumit, while they were travelling to Ghaziabad via Loni Gol Chakkar in a car. “A search of their vehicle yielded three stolen RRUs, sophisticated hardware/software tools used for breaking and removing RRUs from mobile towers, various types of ropes, including those equipped with safety belts and hooks/pulleys,” said the DCP.
Consequently, all three suspects were apprehended. “Later the same day, based on information from the arrested suspects, another individual named Salman was apprehended at Bhopura Border, along with the recovery of an additional stolen RRU,” said the DCP.
During interrogation, the trio confessed that they had previously worked as private labourers installing mobile towers in various parts of North India, providing them with the expertise needed to install and remove RRUs.
“They came into contact with receivers of stolen RRUs, who incentivized them to steal and supply the equipment in exchange for significant sums of money,” said the DCP.