Delhi Police bust int'l mobile phone smuggling racket, 5 held

New Delhi: With the arrest of five persons, the Delhi Police on Thursday claimed to have busted an international racket that was allegedly involved in the sale and purchase of snatched or stolen mobile phones in the national capital, its peripherals, and Nepal.

The police said that they have also recovered 473 mobile phones from the possession of the accused, and 91 cases of theft and snatching registered in Delhi and NCR have been worked out.

The accused were identified as Paras Joshi (34), a resident of Uttarakhand, Ravindra Madan (56), Satish Kumar a.k.a Sonu (36) -- both residents of Delhi, Indra Bahadur (36), and Man Singh (53) -- both Nepal residents.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Amit Goel said that a team was working to uncover all members involved in the sale and purchase of stolen or snatched mobile phones from Delhi and NCR over the past year.

During the investigation, it was uncovered that some suspects used their private cars to transport the stolen mobile phones to Nepal.

"It came to light that these suspects would send the stolen mobile phones to Nepal through India-Nepal border in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh," said the DCP. Furthermore, the police officer said that to dismantle the gang, information was gathered about the suspects.

It was discovered that Paras Joshi would frequently visit Delhi from his hometown in Uttarakhand and return on the same day.

"In addition, it was noted that workers of Umesh, the primary receiver based in Nepal, namely Indra Bahadur and Ravindra Madan, were in contact with each other. Through criminal intelligence, it was confirmed that Ravindra had travelled near the India-Nepal Border on two occasions and returned to Delhi," said the DCP.

"The police team also observed that Indra Bahadur would travel from the India-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar and stay in a hotel in Delhi for 1-2 days," said the DCP.

On March 2, specific information was received that Paras Joshi would be coming to Delhi to collect mobile phones.

Consequently, a police team laid a trap.

"Paras was seen stopping their car outside a hotel. Indra Bahadur emerged from the hotel with a heavy bag and handed it over to Paras. Upon suspicion, he fled in the car but was intercepted by the police. A total of 120 mobile phones were recovered from the bag after a search," said the DCP.

During questioning, both the accused revealed that Indra Bahadur had handed over the bag to them and instructed them to collect more mobile phones from his hotel room.

"Subsequently, the team followed Indra Bahadur's movements and intercepted him outside the hotel, where he was found carrying two bags. A search of the bags led to the recovery of 168 mobile phones. Bahadur admitted that he could recover more mobile phones from his associate, Ravindra," said the DCP.

Based on his information, a raid was conducted in Ravindra's house from where a total of 160 mobile phones were recovered.

"Ravindra claimed that Satish had handed over these mobile phones to him under the instructions of Umesh, the main receiver in Nepal.

Subsequently, a raid was conducted at Satish Kumar's hideout, resulting in the recovery of 25 more stolen mobile phones from his possession and he was also placed under arrest," the DCP added.