Ranchi: A gang of phone thieves, apparently bred in Bihar's Motihari and with dubious business links in Nepal, is pulling off serial thefts in the state capital and Jamshedpur, its latest target being a mobile store in Bariatu.
As many as 60 feature phones and Internet accessories worth around Rs 3 lakh were cleaned out from Ma Jagdamba Mobile, barely 500 metres from Bariatu thana, in the small hours of Monday.
The unidentified gang broke open the shutter and snapped surveillance camera wires before decamping with the booty. They, however, left behind the digital video recorder for the CCTV cameras, a slip-up police hope to cash in on and make headway in the case.
Owner of Ma Jagdamba Mobile Ravi Kumar said he discovered the theft around 9.30am. "I came to start business for the day and found the shutter locks broken. There are six CCTV cameras inside the shop and two outside. The intruders cut the wires, but the DVR is intact," he added.
Ranchi SSP Anish Gupta said a forensic team had been pressed into service.
"The gang is from outside Jharkhand. We suspect it is the same one involved in the theft at Eon Digital on Circular Road recently. It is also active in Jamshedpur," Gupta said, adding that the gang had earned the sobriquet of shutter- katwa (shutter-cutter) for its lock dismantling skills.
On August 2, 98 high-end mobile phones worth Rs 20 lakh were stolen from Eon Digital at Samudra marketing complex, half a kilometre from Lalpur police station.
Both CCTV cameras and the DVR were stolen. Police though procured footage of two cameras that are installed in the complex. Six to seven suspects are seen in the footage.
A police officer in Ranchi said the same gang had targeted a mobile store in Bistupur, Jamshedpur. Phones and laptops worth around Rs 30 lakh were stolen. The case was reported on July 29.
Bistupur thana sources said they suspected the shutter-cutter gang hailed from Motihari. "A probe team is in Bihar for two days now," an insider said over phone.
Speaking on the suspected modus operandi, a Ranchi police officer said the phones stolen from Jharkhand made their way to the flea markets of Nepal six-seven months later.
"The gang knows well that police can detect stolen phones using IMEI numbers and thereby, track down sellers and buyers anywhere in India. Hence, the gadgets are smuggled out of the country," he explained.
Thief caught
A 24-year-old man was caught red-handed trying to break into a mobile store at Gijo in Thakurgaon, on the fringes of Ranchi, late on Sunday night. Thakurgaon OC Minhaj Alam said the accused, Chhotu Oraon, was a petty thief and had earlier been arrested for stealing railway property.
