Four arrested from southeast Delhi for stealing over 100 phones

More than 100 stolen mobile phones have been recovered by police with the arrest of four men in southeast Delhi, officials said on Thursday.

The accused, Vinod (32), Jeetu (23), Roshan (26) and Rajesh (33), used to board buses every morning from various locations in Ashram, Badarpur, Govind Puri, Kalandi Kunj, M B Road to steal mobile phones, they said.

According to police, Rajesh used to follow the bus in his autorickshaw. After stealing phones, the accused used to deboard and hand over the devices to him and board another bus. They even carries arms, in case of any eventuality.

With their arrest, 39 cases of pick-pocketing and mobile theft have been solved and 108 stolen phones recovered, they said.

On Wednesday, police received information that a gang of pickpockets operating in southeast Delhi would be headed for Pul Prahladpur from Badarpur on MB Road in the evening in an autorickshaw, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said.

A special vehicle checking picket was put up at MB Road on the carriage way towards Prahladpur and at about 8 pm, the suspected vehicle was seen coming from the Badarpur side. The driver was signalled to stop but he sped up in a bid to escape and hit the barricade, resulting in injuries to Constable Vipin, the officer said.

However, the vehicle was intercepted and the four occupants were apprehended, Biswal said.

"During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they used to steal mobile phones in running buses and sold those at hefty prices to dealers of Loni, Ghaziabad, who used to meet them at a park there," the DCP said.

Two loaded countrymade pistols, two knives, four surgical blades were seized from them, the police said.