Interstate gang of cellphone thieves busted during visarjan

Dongri police have arrested an interstate gang of mobile thieves who had stolen at least forty mobile phones on the day of the Ganpati immersion in South Mumbai.

The accused have been identified as Shahbaj Shaikh(24), Aamir Hussain(26), Mohammad Patel(28), Mohammad Bagwan(28).

According to police, the accused would take advantage of the crowd during the festival season and steal the mobile phones of the devotees. On the day of the Ganpati immersion procession of the Lalbaugcha Raja, on September 5, the accused had stolen more than 50 mobile phones of the devotees. Police said that on the fifth and seventh day of the Ganpati immersion, they received several complaints of mobile phone thefts, following which they laid a trap on the immersion day and arrested the accused red-handed.

"During the investigation, it was revealed that they would sell the mobile phones in Chor Bazaar and three of them would come to Mumbai from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka during the festival season just to steal phones," said Manoj Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 1 adding that they recovered 40 phones and there was a possibility of recovery of at least 30 more.