Gang member auctioned stolen mobiles from city to bidders in Bangladesh, Nepal

One of the arrested gang members, dealing in stolen mobiles, was part of 43 WhatsApp groups, where he auctioned the handsets to resellers from Nepal and Bangladesh after changing the IMEI numbers, reveals a probe.

The Mankhurd police officials said the accused, 32-year-old Ashfaq Ahmed Abdul Ajij Shaikh is one of the seven gang members busted by the police and has a bank account in Nepal, where his wife and son reside and is found to have received ₹8 lakh from Nepal and ₹6 lakh from Bangladesh in their bank accounts.

Krishnakant Upadhyay, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 6 said, Shaikh used to purchase stolen mobile handsets from mobile thieves across the city. He was living in the Shivaji Nagar area for the past four years and working as an Urdu teacher at a Madrasa at Kurla. He bought stolen phones from mobile snatchers across the city.

After buying stolen handsets, the accused used to send their model numbers, and phone conditions, and occasionally sent pictures on WhatsApp groups from where dealers in Nepal and Bangladesh used to bid for the same. The agents from Nepal and Bangladesh visit the city once in 15 days to collect the stolen phones from Shaikh and later deliver those to the dealers across the border.

The money was deposited in Shaikh's bank account in Nepal, whereas the purchasers from Bangladesh used to deposit money in his bank account from border regions of West Bengal, Upadhyay added. He said the police have seized Shaikh's bank accounts.

Shaikh, a native of Gorakhpur, had sold around 10,000 stolen mobile phones in the neighbouring countries in the past one and a half years. During a raid last week, the police seized a total of 78 expensive phones, including 25 iPhones, worth around ₹18 lakh from the gang.

The other arrested in the case - Javed Abdul Washid Shaikh alias Babban, 26, Ashfaq Ahmed Abdul Ajij Shaikh, 29, Adil alias Aayan Rajjab Ali Shaikh, 26, Taufiq Rafiqu Shaikh, 21, Sakib Wahid Shaikh, 29, Anwar Ali Mohammad Parvez Shaikh, 24, Mohammad Sahil Mohammad Aquil Shaikh, 23, are all residents of Govandi and Mankhurd area.

The gang was busted after police inspector Raju Surve and his team launched a manhunt for a biker and his associate, who had robbed a mobile phone from outside Mankhurd railway station on July 11.

The police eventually identified the robber, Javed Shaikh, and apprehended him on July 21. His arrest led to the arrest of Ashfaq Ahmed Abdul Ajij Shaikh, the biggest receiver of the stolen phones from the city, said police inspector Raju Surve.