Three Hyderabad cops among a gang arrested for stealing mobile phones

HYDERABAD: Three cops and six others involved in a series of mobile snatchings across the city, were arrested by the Panjagutta police of Hyderabad on Tuesday and 15 stolen mobile phones were recovered from their possession.
The accused persons shipped the stolen mobile phones to West Bengal and sold them to Bangladeshi citizens near the Indo - Bangla border at cheap rates and the arrested cops helped in their release from police stations if they were caught.A teenager involved in the gang was also apprehended, police said.
K Ashok, Home Guard and P Somanna, constable of Gandhi Nagar police station and P Sai Ram, 34, constable of Chilkalguda police station were among the arrested, said DCP West zone SM Vijay Kumar.
Police said Rahul Kumar Yadav of Jharkhand is the kingpin behind this gang. He also employed people to work for him and deputed them to other cities like Surat, Lucknow, Ranchi, Belur, Chennai, Varanasi, Nagpur and Patna. The gang members target the public at crowded places like vegetable markets, Metro trains, religious processions and steal mobiles from their pockets.
Before the victim could realise and to avoid being caught, they create a commotion in the crowd and escape from the place. After they steal around 50 mobiles, Rahul sends his associate Muktar Singh to Hyderabad and other cities to collect the stolen mobiles and gets them to Jharkhand.
From there, they travel to West Bengal and sell them at the international border, police said. A week ago, Mukhtar came to Hyderabad, and took with him 58 stolen mobiles.
Police are now verifying the details of the stolen mobile phones so that they can trace their owners and hand over them.