Pramesh S Jain
The Mahadevapura police busted a gang of mobile thieves including five women who travel in crowded bus create shoving to divert the attention of passengers and steal their mobile phones . .
Based on a mobile theft complaint,the police kept a close watch on crowded buses and arrested the accused identified as Radha,Rashi,Nandini, Shankaramma and Shanthamma and recovered 120 mobile phones worth Rs.30 lakh from them.
The accused stayed in a rented house and move around the crowded buses in groups to create shoving in the bus to steal phones.
The stolen phones the accused would sell their contact in Andhra Pradesh who would visit the city once in fortnight to collect the booty in bulk.
The accused would sell the phones for a throw away prices ranging from ₹ 2,000 to ₹ 3,000 for a piece and share the booty among themselves .
The stolen phones were later flashed and sold it in grey market in Andhra Pradesh.
The gang was operating in the city for quite sometime suspected to have stolen many more phones .
The police has requested the people to contact Whitefield division police if they have lost the phones while travelling in buses.
The police are trying to track down the owners of the phones as many of them have not even complained after losing their phones .
