In a breakthrough operation, Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested a 27-year-old man involved in a spate of telecom infrastructure thefts across northern India. The accused, Shavej Ahmad, alias Prince Malik, was apprehended near Khatauli on the Delhi-Haridwar Highway after a three-day interstate operation spanning Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Shavej, a former scrap dealer and shoe store worker from Rajpura, Punjab, is accused of targeting Remote Radio Units (RRUs) — key components used in mobile communication towers. RRUs are critical for mobile signal transmission, and their theft can disrupt entire telecom networks.
According to DCP (Crime) Vikram Singh, Shavej had been evading arrest by constantly changing his identity, locations, and mobile numbers. He allegedly ran a black-market network for stolen RRUs, which were traced to locations in Delhi and Meerut.
One of the recovered units has been linked to a case from the Burari area of Delhi. In addition to the telecom gear, police also recovered Rs 4 lakh in cash, suspected to be proceeds from illicit sales.
Shavej is also wanted in three other theft cases — two in Punjab and one in Haryana. Investigations are ongoing to uncover the full scale of his operations and identify potential accomplices involved in the network.
