In a major breakthrough, Itanagar police apprehended Arun Baruah (19), a habitual mobile phone thief, and recovered 20 stolen handsets of various brands valued at around Rs10 lakh.
The incident came to light following a complaint that a mobile phone had been stolen from a workplace at Solung Ground, 0 Point Tinali, during the night of October 4-5. A case under Section 305(a) BNS was registered, and the investigation was entrusted to ASI Tatum Tari.
A special police team, led by Itanagar PS OC Inspector K Yangpo and supervised by Itanagar SP Jummar Basar and SDPO Kengo Dirchi, traced and arrested Arun Baruah, a resident of Ganga Market, Itanagar.
During interrogation, Arun confessed to stealing over 100 mobile phones across the Itanagar Capital Region in the past year. He revealed that he sold the stolen handsets at throwaway prices to laborers, autorickshaw, and Trekker drivers around Ganga Market.
Interestingly, Arun’s brother, Anup Baruah, had been arrested in June for copper wire and battery theft and remains in judicial custody.
Police continue investigations to identify the receivers of the stolen phones and to trace the remaining handsets.
