Lucknow: In a major law enforcement breakthrough, Mirzapur Police have dismantled an interstate cyber fraud racket that allegedly stole thousands of mobile phones across India, extracted sensitive data, and funneled both devices and information into organized fraud networks, including the notorious Jamtara syndicates of Jharkhand.
The operation, led by Lalganj police and the Special Operations Group with surveillance support, resulted in the arrest of eight accused and the recovery of 11,605 mobile phones, valued at nearly Rs1 crore.
The arrests were made on Tuesday after police intercepted a truck near Tendui Toll Plaza, acting on a tip-off. The arrested individuals are:
Mohammad Anarul – Katihar, Bihar
Mohammad Dil Faraz – Katihar, Bihar
Sitabul – Katihar, Bihar
Haseebur Rahman – Katihar, Bihar
Sabir Alam – Purnia, Bihar
Mohammad Ahmad – Purnia, Bihar
Mohammad Hasan – Purnia, Bihar
Mohammad Shafiq – Purnia, Bihar
According to Superintendent of Police Aparna Rajat Kaushik, the gang had created a highly organized network spanning Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Mumbai. Gang members rented rooms in these cities and posed as delivery agents for e-commerce platforms, gaining access to residential areas to study potential targets.
Posing as trusted delivery workers, the accused allegedly stole phones via deception, snatching, and opportunistic theft during deliveries. Stolen devices were transported to Bihar, where technical methods were used to extract data directly from phone motherboards, even from damaged or non-functional handsets.
Investigators believe the stolen information included contact lists, personal messages, and financial details, which were either used in cyber fraud or sold to other criminal networks.
The probe also revealed links to the Jamtara phishing networks, with the gang supplying both stolen phones and harvested data to these cybercrime operators, expanding the reach of online scams targeting banking and personal information.
