HYDERABAD: In a joint operation, the South Zone Task Force police and the Central Zone DCP team apprehended 17 individuals, including five Sudanese nationals and a local mobile shop owner from Jagdish market and seized 700 mobile phones worth Rs 1.75 crore, including more than 30 recent version iPhones.
The accused have been identified as Mohammad Muzammil, Syed Abrar, Syed Saleem, Pathan Rabbani, Mohammad Athar, Mohammad Zakir, Shaik Azhar, Mohamad Khaja Nizamuddin, Syed Layeeq, Shaik Azhar Moinuddin, Mohammad Shafi Babu, and J Yelamanda Reddy. The other accused — Khalid Abdelibagii Mohamed Albadwi, Abdalelah Ahmed Osman Babiker, Aymn Mohammaed Salih Abdalla, Anas Siddig Abdelgader Ahmed, Omer Abdalla Eltayeb Mohamed — are Sudan nationals.
Hyderabad CP Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy said, “Recently, an alarming rise in mobile phone thefts has been witnessed. People returning home from a restaurant or movie or from metro stations to their houses are the prime targets of such thieves. Sometimes, the offenders also approach people in the pretext of asking for time or address. One must be alert and dial 100 if they notice something is suspicious.”
According to the police, J Yelamanda Reddy, the shop owner, is the middleman between the accused thieves and the Sudan national – Khalid – who receives the stolen phones and sells them in Sudan with the help of four other Sudan nationals.
The CP added, “All the stolen phones were collected by the final receiver - Mohammad Sahfi (Accused no. 11) - from his partners and were being sent to Reddy’s shop in Jagdish market. Reddy, who offers repair services in his shop, uses parts from the stolen phones to repair phones in his shop. The leftover phones would be handed over to Khalid to sell them in Sudan. The accused chose to illegally transport the phones through sea, by concealing them in frozen food packages. Khalid would further sell them at higher prices in Sudan.”
When asked if any cases of data theft linked to the phone theft have come to light, Task Force DCP S Rashmi Perumal said that the case is solely about cell phone thefts and so far, no such incidents have come to light. Meanwhile, the CP said that there is a similar gang in the city where young boys are being paid like regular employees for committing such thefts.