Thursday, February 09, 2006

Theft From Mobile Showrooms of Mangalore City Detected. 01 Arrested and 109 Mobiles Recovered


It may be recalled that in the month of Oct 05 some mobile show rooms located at MG Road and Balmatta in Mangalore city were stolen where in more than 100 brand new mobile phones worth more than rupees ten lakhs had vanished.

In order to detect these cases a special team was formed by DySP Mangalore city consisting of PI North Mr. Vinay Gaonkar and other police staff of Mangalore City Subdivision. The team after carefully following the leads has finally succeeded in busting the gang responsible for these thefts.
The case got cracked when police arrested one Mohammed Manarull Sheik 24 yrs S/o Mohammed Geesu Sheik R/o Boltola Rajmahal Saibganj district Jarkhand state was arrested by the police on 31/01/2006 from Mangalore found wandering under suspicious circumstances and with a mobile phone in his possession. His detailed interrogation and verification of the IMEI number of his mobile phone revealed that it is the stolen handset from one of the showrooms of Mangalore. Under further sustained interrogation he admitted that he along with five others had committed theft of mobile showrooms in Mangalore city and other places in the state like Hubli and Mysore. He also confessed that some of the mobile phones so stolen by them have been kept in his room in Mumbai. Based on this confession police produced him before the court, took police custody and went to Mumbai. There the police found 108 mobile phones kept intact in a room belonging to the accused. On verification of the IMEI numbers, it was found that all these phones are the ones stolen from two mobile showrooms in Mangalore city on 18/10/2005 (Classic Electronics MG Road) and 20/10/2005 (Usha Telecommunication Balmatta Road).


The accused has been brought back to Mangalore and produced before the jurisdictional court and remanded to judicial custody. The police team is still on the lookout for the other accused required. Efforts are being made to secure them with help of Jarkhand police.

However it is learnt that all these accused belong to Saibganj district of Jarkhand and are hardcore habitual mobile phone lifters. They operate throughout the country and target mainly the mobile showrooms. Their main modus is to travel in group of 5-6 persons and identify the showrooms in the daytime. Late in the night they would operate by gaining entry into the showroom by either break opening the lock or removing the air conditioner from the wall. It is also learnt that several such gangs exist in the Rajmahal area of Jarkhand whose main profession is theft of mobile phones. The mobile so stolen would be disposed in Mumbai, West Bangal and even Bangladesh.

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