Delhi Police Bust Interstate Mobile Theft Gang, Recover 40 High-End Smartphones

December 11, 2025

New Delhi: The East Range-1 team of Delhi Police’s Crime Branch, led by Inspector Ashish Sharma and supervised by ACP Sunil Srivastava, arrested the accused near Yamuna Vihar Metro Station on December 9 after tracking for about 48 hours. According to the police, the accused kept changing their locations to avoid police surveillance.

Accused arrested and recovered smartphones

The arrested accused have been identified as Salman (35), Imran (28), Shahrukh (32) and Wasim (25), all residents of Ghaziabad. The police recovered a total of 40 high-end smartphones, including 8 Apple iPhones (iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 16 series) and 7 premium Samsung models such as Galaxy S24 Ultra and Fold 6. The remaining phones were from OnePlus, Vivo, Oppo, Redmi, POCO and Motorola.

Thieves targeted crowded areas

According to the police, the gang carried out thefts at crowded public places like music concerts, metro stations, bus stops, bars, markets and railway stations. Several recovered smartphones matched the FIRs registered earlier, including those at Prashant Vihar, Shahbad Dairy and IP Estate police stations.

Gang’s operations revealed

During interrogation, the main accused Salman revealed that they targeted events where youths used to bring expensive phones. Police said the gang had been active in Delhi-NCR for several months. The stolen phones were immediately sent to grey market contacts in Ghaziabad and sold at cheap prices within hours, making recovery difficult.

Legal action and investigation are ongoing

A case has been registered against the four accused under sections 35(1)(E) and 106 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). DCP Vikram Singh said, “This action reflects the commitment of the Crime Branch of Delhi Police to curb organised crime and arrest hardened criminals.

Investigation into the associates of the accused and other cases is still ongoing.”