Hyderabad, Apr 26 (FN Bureau) The sleuths of the commissioner’s Task Force of South zone team here have busted an International Smartphone snatching and smuggling gang by arresting 17 accused persons including 5 Sudanese nationals The Taskforce team along with Bandlaguda Police has busted an International SmartPhones Smuggling & Snatching Gang and recovered stolen property worth Rs 1.75 crore from the accused, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy said in a press conference here on Friday. In recent days, Hyderabad city has seen a rising spate of mobile phone snatchings and theft across the city Commissionerate jurisdiction.
To curb this increasing menace and to understand the pattern of these offences, a thorough investigation was undertaken by the Hyderabad city police. Under this, it was discovered that a major criminal network has been operating in the city involving cell phone snatchers, a host of receivers of these stolen goods, and also traders (both national and international) who are in the business of unlawful transport of these cell phones out of the country to sell them for illegal profits. Further, several stolen cell phones are also being dismantled in niche markets and the resultant components such as mobile screens, cameras, speakers are subsequently being used as replacement parts for existing damaged mobiles received from customers at a fraction of the price in comparison to the original company rates.
After a thorough investigation, Hyderabad police have apprehended the accused persons including five foreign nationals — Abdalelah Ahmed Osman Babiker (36), a Clothes Businessman; Aymn Mohammed Salih Abdalla (34), a student; Anas Siddig Abdelgader Ahmed(24), also a student and Omer Abdalla Eltayeb Mohamed ( 27) – all are residing in Hyderabad- and seized 703 Smart Phones of various mobile phone brands such as Apple Iphone, Samsung, Vivo, RedMi, RealMe, Oneplus, Oppo and POCO from them. Further investigation is underway in the case, he added.