A 36-year-old engineer, Manish Yadav, was arrested for his role in an illegal operation involving the purchase and sale of stolen mobile phones worth Rs. 2 crore. Yadav, a resident of Loni in Ghaziabad, was apprehended in Wazirabad Village. Upon a detailed search of his premises, police recovered 195 high-value stolen phones.
According to Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), Sanjay Kumar Sain, Yadav confessed to collaborating with juveniles and thieves, who were tasked with stealing mobile phones from crowded places across the Delhi-NCR region. These phones were then purchased by Yadav at low prices and sold in bulk to international markets, particularly in neighbouring countries.
The stolen phones were primarily sourced from metro stations, buses, and crowded marketplaces. An exercise was conducted to verify the details of the recovered phones, revealing 21 phones had lost reports filed, 8 phones had e-FIRs, 38 phones were unlisted, and 128 phones were inactive. Authorities are working to trace the rightful owners and have shared the information with relevant police stations for further action.
Yadav revealed that he resorted to this illicit trade in 2023 due to financial difficulties, despite working in the private sector. Initially involved in scrap trading, Yadav developed a connection with Naeem, an individual from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, who specialized in the stolen phone business. Yadav was offered commissions ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,000 per phone, which encouraged him to expand his illegal operations.
Further investigation revealed that Yadav was not a first-time offender, as he had been previously arrested in 2017 under similar charges in Khajuri Khas, Delhi, where four cases were registered against him. Police are continuing their investigation into his connections and the broader network involved in the theft and resale of mobile phones.
