Bangalore: Police silence ring of mobile thieves

In a case of entrepreneurship gone haywire, a youth from Jharkhand set up a ring of boys from his state to steal smart phones in the city.

Malleswaram police have arrested 19-year-old Govind Kumar on a charge of transporting ten boys from his home state, lodging them in the city, training them in mobile theft, and operating the ring.

Govind Kumar, of Sukhdevnagar at Ranchi in Jharkhand, persuaded the parents of the boys aged between 8 and 14, with money, and travelled along with the boys to Bangalore, where he lodged them in a house at KR Puram. He trained the boys in stealing phones, particularly the high-end ones.

“The group used to target crowded places. On the pretext of selling flowers, polythene covers or hankies, one of them would draw the attention of the victim and engage the latter in a conversation, while another boy would grab the phone and escape,” the police said.

The felonious startup was detected after one of the boys was caught by public near Sai Baba Temple in Malleswaram recently. Under questioning, he revealed about the network, resulting in the arrest of Kumar.
“We summoned the boys’ parents from Jharkhand, warned them to keep their children away from the influence of criminals, and sent the boys home along with their parents,” a police officer said.

After arresting Kumar, police have been to solve cases of mobile thefts registered in Koramangala, Vijaynagar, Halasuru, City Market, Adugodi and other police stations. Forty smart phones worth around Rs8 lakh have been recovered.