Four held for stealing cellphones, changing their IMEI numbers

Police said that the accused, identified as Yusuf, Farman, Faizan and Shokin, had learned the technique of changing IMEI from videos on the internet.

A team from Gokalpuri police station recovered more than 30 high-end smartphones from the accused.

DCP (North East) AK Singla said that on February 9, a police team boarded a DTC bus of route no 971 to conduct a random search on the bus.

Suddenly, a man jumped out from the moving bus and tried to escape. But the police team caught him after a chase.

The detained youth, Yusuf, could not give a valid reason as to why he tried to flee on seeing the police, and during his search, a smartphone was found in his possession.

Yusuf disclosed to the cops that he had stolen it from a bus passenger that morning itself.

"He disclosed that Faizan and Shokin would get the IMEI of the stolen phone changed with the help of Farman, who runs a mobile shop at Mustafabad. Based of this information, all accused were arrested and a total of 32 IMEI-changed stolen phones were recovered from his possession," said the DCP.

During interrogation, Farman revealed that once he got the stolen phones, he would change their IMEI numbers using techniques he learnt online and by getting software/hardware from Nehru Place.

Police claimed that the accused worked in a group, with Faizan, Shokin and Yusuf randomly boarding crowded buses and usually targetting passengers while they boarded or deboarded the bus, or passengers standing near the door.

One of the members would take out the phone and pass it to the closest member, who would immediately deboard the bus.