HUBBALLI: An unblocked mobile number helped Navanagar police trace two young thieves involved in the snatch and run business for the last couple of months in the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad.
Akash Mudaliyar (20) of Patil Chawl near Keshwapur and Akash Moole (20) of Shettar Layout near Vidyanagar in the city were college friends who discontinued their education after PUC. To fulfil their needs like pocket money and owning a two-wheeler to roam around the city, they opted for crime as their hobby.
They contacted people who wanted to sell their high-end mobile phones through a website. The duo would inform the victims to bring their mobile phones with bills and boxes as they were ready to buy them. When the sellers arrived, the duo would attack them and snatch the phones, boxes and bills. The youths robbed eight mobile phones worth Rs 2.86 lakh using this modus operandi.
Prabhu Surin, Navanagar Police Inspector, said they received a complaint of a high-end phone with two sim cards being snatched. To nab the thieves, we informed the victim not to block one sim card.
"The unlocked sim card used to be activated in the evenings and nights. It was used for offences like making calls to rob other mobile phones. The accused robbed eight mobile phones after making phone calls through the unlocked sim card. After identifying the tower location, we went through CCTV footage of a few shops near NTTF in Dharwad and identified the thieves. After they robbed two more phones at APMC recently, we arrested the duo," he added.
Mudaliyar was in Bengaluru for a few months and worked there. Before that, he was involved in robbery cases at Gadag Road in the city where he threatened walkers and robbed cash, mobile phones and other items. Moole was running a street food in Vidyanagar and had no criminal record before this.
The police managed to seize eight mobile phones and two two-wheelers from them. Now, the duo are behind bars and police commissioner R Dileep announced a reward for the cops who nabbed them.