In a major crackdown, the Kotwali Police in Jaipur arrested four shopkeepers involved in a phone unlocking racket and altering IMEI numbers of smartphones. The suspects, identified as Atul Gupta (36), Lokesh Garg alias Lalu (30), Gautam Saini alias Golu (38), and Mahesh Murjani (53), were all operating from shops located in Raisar Plaza.
These shopkeepers specialized in assisting customers whose mobile phones had been locked due to non-payment of instalments. The customers, unable to make the payments on time, would approach the accused to have their phones unlocked. In addition to unlocking the phones, the shopkeepers also tampered with the phones’ IMEI numbers. They replaced the original IMEI numbers with those from discarded or exchanged phones they had acquired at very low prices.
Using sophisticated software tools like UMT TOOL, MTK-2, and NEW AMT, as well as hardware devices such as UFS, UFI, and EASY JTAG, the suspects were able to break the phone locks and change the IMEI numbers. The equipment used for these illegal activities was reportedly worth thousands of rupees. Police seized several computers, desktops, and over 250 mobile phones from the suspects’ premises.
The raid, conducted on Tuesday, was based on a tip received on June 30, which pointed to the illegal activities happening in Raisar Plaza. DCP (North) Rashi Dogra Doody stated that these individuals facilitated unlocking for customers who had defaulted on phone instalments, thus making the phones functional again through their tampering process.
The accused have been booked for their involvement in the illegal modification of phones and will be presented in court shortly. Police are continuing their investigation into the wider network of individuals involved in such illegal operations.
