Two nabbed for stealing mobile phones at traffic signals

NEW DELHI - Two men have been arrested here for picking up mobile phones from the dashboard of cars after engaging the drivers in talk at traffic signals across the national capital, police said Saturday.

Mohammad Saleem, 58, and Mohammad Shahid, 25, were arrested Saturday from Shalimar Bagh area in northwest Delhi. They both hail from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.

“They used to stand on the dividers at the traffic signals and target those cars whose windows were down and mobile phone placed on dashboards. Then one of them, posing as a beggar, would keep the car owner busy in conversation by knocking the front of the car deliberately to divert the attention. Meanwhile, the other would remove the mobile and vanish in the crowd,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest Delhi) Vijay Singh said.

He said both belonged to the gang of mobile thieves headed by Mohammad Asghar. They daily commuted from Meerut to Delhi for stealing mobile phones. Asghar, after making a recee of crowded traffic signals and markets, directed his gang members to operate on the specific traffic signals,” Singh added.

According to police, both had stolen 50 to 60 mobile phones from various parts of Uttar Pradesh and in Delhi they operated at the Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT), railway stations, Red Fort, Yamuna Bazaar, Connaught Place, Nizamuddin, Lajpat Nagar, Azadpur Mandi, Mukarba by-pass and Rajouri Garden areas.

They would hand over the stolen mobile phones to Asghar, who would sell them to various buyers in Meerut.