Man held for snatching phones by prowling on high-end stolen bike

New Delhi: A 27-year-old man, who admitted to more than 100 snatching incidents since coming out of jail in early October, was arrested from Shahdara area here, police said on Tuesday.

Adil Malik, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, is a fitness freak and leads a lavish life from the earnings through such thefts. He has a wife and two girl friends and spends more than Rs 1 lakh on his lifestyle and girl friends — one of them is a doctor while another is a nurse at a major hospital in Delhi, they said.

Police said the accused uses a high-end stolen bike for committing the crime in the trans-Yamuna area and UP border areas with a monthly target to snatch around 30-40 mobile phones to earn at least Rs 1 lakh per month.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram said they have been getting regular PCR calls from various areas of Shahdara, North East and East districts of Delhi in the last six months about a biker snatching away mobile phones.

"On Monday, information was received by SHO Seemapuri Vinay Kumar Yadav that the snatcher will pass through on his bike from the area of Chintamani Chowk and accordingly, a dedicated team was constituted and he was nabbed," he said.

"He has admitted to have snatched more than 100 mobile phones since he came out of the jail on October 4 this year. He spends the earned money out of snatching for his girlfriends; spends more than Rs 1 lakh on his lifestyle. He also recently bought a gold necklace worth Rs 1.5 lakh for his wife," the officer said.