Police bust alleged sellers of snatched mobile phones

Police arrests Mahmood Khan and Meraj Al Hadi from Bacha Khan Chowk, Banaras

KARACHI:

Snatched and stolen mobile phone handsets are selling in the secondhand mobile phone markets after change of IMEI numbers and unlocking by unscrupulous geniuses, a suspect told the police during interrogation.

Special Investigation Unit (SIU) police have arrested two members of a gang involved in buying and selling snatched and stolen mobile phones. Police have also recovered nine mobile phones from them. SIU SSP Arif Aziz said a team of the unit arrested Mahmood Khan and Meraj Al Hadi from Bacha Khan Chowk, Banaras.

During his visit to the interrogation room, Hadi revealed that he buys snatched and stolen mobile phones at low prices and changes the IMEI number of the handsets and sell these in second hand market. Hadi spilled the beans telling the cops how he unlocks the mobile phones which have been blocked by the users. Hadi further told SIU police that he sells the phones to Mehmood.

He also revealed that he buys the stolen and snatched phones from a gang which include Muzammil, Obaid and Yaseen. The accused also buys snatched and stolen mobile phones from Shafiq, Adil and Khalid, shopkeepers of Awami, China and Zainab mobile markets in Banaras area.

He further said that a man named Ikram who works at Banaras China Mobile Market is expert at changing IMEI numbers after which they are sold to Mahmood, who later supplies the loot to customers in Quetta and even across the border in Afghanistan through Shafiq and Qudrat among others.

SSL Arif Aziz said that a case has also been registered in the SIU against the accused arrested in connection with the purchase and export of snatched and stolen mobile phones. SHO SIU Shabbir said Mahmood was staying with his uncles at PECHS, where police also carried a raid and recovered phones.