Jaipur: A special team from the Jaipur police commissionerate uncovered an organised racket smuggling stolen mobile phones from India to Bangladesh and arrested five individuals. The group stole mobile phones and tablets worth over Rs 1.50 crore from a shop in the city two weeks back. A lot of stolen goods have already been recovered, said police.
Jaipur police commissioner Biju George Joseph on Friday said that the police arrested the main conspirator, Safan Khan (30), who enlisted the help of Ram Bharose (27), Jatin Hada (18), and Rajesh Kumar (45) to break into an electronics shop in the Panchvati area of Jawahar Nagar on Nov 6.
"We discovered that the stolen items were supplied to Sameer Ahmed Sheikh (38) in Mumbai, with the payment being made through hawala. Sheikh was preparing to ship the phones, including new iPhones, to Bangladesh," Joseph said, adding that the police are also investigating the role.
Additional commissioner (Crime) Kunwar Rashtradeep revealed that Sheikh paid Rs 40 lakh to Khan for the stolen phones. "Our primary investigation has shown that the accused earned a significant profit by selling these phones in Bangladesh," he said.
Police added that selling the phones abroad made it harder to track them in India through IMEI numbers. It was also found that selling phones overseas allowed the criminals to earn approximately 60% more than if they sold them within India.
DCP (East) Tejaswani Gautam confirmed that Sheikh was arrested in Mumbai. She added that, except for Sheikh, all the suspects are natives of Madhya Pradesh.
Police revealed that Khan worked with the shop owner in Indore about 10 years ago, which led him to target the shop in Jaipur.
"Over the years, Khan kept a close eye on the shop owner, who regularly posted updates about his inventory on social media. Before Diwali, the shop owner posted about new phones arriving, which convinced Khan that he could steal the phones and flee," said an official. Khan then began visiting Jaipur to carry out surveillance of the shop.
After careful planning, Khan enlisted the help of the other suspects, and they travelled from Indore to Jaipur in a rental car. Once in Jaipur, they used a bike to break into the shop, parked it, and then fled back to Indore.
Police tracked Khan's movements after the theft, noting that he travelled to Indore and Goa. The police kept a close watch on his activities before making the arrests.