Unclaimed courier box leads Bengaluru police to interstate mobile theft gang

BENGALURU: A seemingly ordinary unattended courier box led Bengaluru police to uncover a sprawling interstate mobile phone theft ring operating with a clever twist.

Two persons, C Sreenivas, 29, from Bhadravati and Shafiq KP from Palakkad in Kerala, have been arrested while Chandra Layout police continue the hunt for 15 more gang members who specialize in stealing and reselling high-end phones.

The investigation kicked off on Oct 24 when a courier firm official reported a box, sent from Bhadravati to Kochi, had returned after being unclaimed. Repeated calls to the sender went unanswered, raising red flags. "Taking a complaint from the courier official, we carried out the mahajar procedure before opening the box. We found 10 used mobile phones. A team picked the sender from Bhadravati for questioning," deputy commissioner of police S Girish told TOI.

Police records showed that Sreenivas, nabbed from his Bhadravati residence, was earlier arrested by city police as well as Bhadravati police on charges of stealing mobile phones. "Then, police recovered around 100 mobile phones from him," an officer said. Based on his information, police arrested Shafiq and recovered 32 mobile phones from him. In all, police recovered 52 mobile phones worth over Rs 10 lakh.

Sreenivas told police that he couriered it to Cibin in Kochi, Kerala. "Cibin receives stolen mobile phones from many suspects through courier. When Sreenivas' box reached him, Cibin was not present at his home. Some of his friends, who were selling stolen mobile phones, were picked by Kerala police in other cases. This made Cibin stay away from his home. When courier staff repeatedly called, Cibin thought it was in connection with some case and did not respond," the officer said.

Sreenivas and other gang members stole mobile phones from victims at crowded places like large-scale celebrations of religious festivals, political rallies, and busy marketplaces. "Mostly they targeted men, sometimes those in an inebriated condition. They would pickpocket them," a cop said.