Cops bust smartphone smuggling racket, apprehend 17

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Commissioner’s Task Force, South Zone team, along with the Bandlaguda police, busted an international smartphone smuggling and snatching gang and apprehended 17 persons, including five Sudanese nationals. They seized 703 smartphones worth Rs 1.75 crore and a bike from their possession.

According to the police, the city has been witnessing a rising spate of mobile phone snatchings and theft. To curb this menace and to understand the pattern of the offences, a thorough investigation was undertaken by the police. They found that a major criminal network has been operating in the city involving cell phone snatchers, host of receivers of the stolen goods and also traders (both national and international) who are in business of unlawful transport of the phones out of the country to sell them for profits.

Several stolen phones are being dismantled in markets; resultant components such as mobile screen, camera, speaker are subsequently being used as replacement parts for damaged mobiles received from customers at a fraction of price as against the original company rate.

The arrested persons were Mohd Muzammil alias Mujju (19), Syed Abrar (19), Syed Saleem (21), Pathan Rabbani Khan alias Jaffar Khan (34), Mohd Athar (32), Mohd Zakir (35), Shaik Azhar alias Jaffar (31), Mohd Khaja Nizamuddin alias Khaiser, Ajju Bhai, (49), Syed Layeeq, (32), Shaik Azhar Moinuddin (32), Mohd Shafi alias Bablu (28) J Yalamanda Reddy (44). The Sudanese nationals were Khalid Abdelbagi Mohamed Albadwi (36), Abdalelah Ahmed Osman Babiker (36), Aymn Mohammed Salih Abdalla (34), Anas Siddig Abdelgader Ahmed (24) and Omer Abdalla Eltayeb Mohamed (27). The police said Mujju and Abrar of Jahanuma planned to commit snatching of cell phones by terrorising passersby during late night in isolated areas. They also stole a bike in L B Nagar police limits and used the vehicle as conveyance for snatching phones. They committed crimes under the limits of Bandlaguda, Falaknuma, Bahadurpura, Mangalhat police stations and Hayathnagar.

Mujju and Abrar used to sell stolen smartphones to Saleem. From this lead, other accused receivers and dealers were apprehended. The police said the accused like Bablu had shops in Jagdish Market where the phones were purchased at low prices by Khalid Abdelbagi and his associates. They were exported illegally via sea route to Sudan for re-selling at huge profits.

The police said necessary action will be taken against foreign nationals for indulging in illegal activities. A mobile repair shop was run at Jagdish Market wherein Yelamanda Reddy received stolen i-phones and used their parts for repairing iphones of customers and earn huge profits illegally.

Accused Mujju was earlier involved in one case, while, Syed Saleem in six cases, Mohd Zakir in 11 cases, Khaiser- Ajju Bhai in one case, Bablu in six cases, and Shafi in one.

The police detected seven cases at Bandlaguda, Falaknuma, Hayathnagar, Bahadurpura, Mangalhat, L B Nagar. After thorough investigation, they apprehended the accused and seized 703 smart phones. Further investigation is underway.