Police Arrests Gang Involved in Stealing and Smuggling Phones From Karachi

Mobile phone robberies are quite common in Karachi and people are quite wary of it already, but it doesn’t end there. A police investigation in Karachi has uncovered an organized criminal network involved in smuggling stolen mobile phones from Karachi to Afghanistan.

The information comes from one of the criminals that were arrested by West Investigation Police Karachi. According to the police report shared to the media by Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Arif Rao, the arrested criminal revealed that he sold the mobile phones to another criminal who smuggled them to Afghanistan.

This isn’t the first time such an incident has been reported in Pakistan. Earlier this year in June, a 17-member gang involved in stealing and smuggling mobile phones to Afghanistan was arrested in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The gang members confessed to several crimes after the arrest.

The gang comprised IT experts, who were well versed in tinkering with mobile phones and their IMEI numbers, and even a police constable. The arrested criminals belonged to different parts of the city and the police constable Imran s/o Momin Khan was suspended immediately and action was taken against him.

According to SSP Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi, the 17-member gang operated in four different subgroups. They robbed people at gunpoint and also purchased stolen mobile phones from different cities including several areas of Karachi. The criminals would then change the IMEI numbers of these phones so they could be smuggled to Afghanistan.

The police recovered 172 mobile phones worth Rs 1.7 million during the raid. Other than mobile phones, the police also recovered 14 computers, a motorcycle, a car, and a number of weapons from the suspects.

The gang members were identified as Shakir, Shehzad, Naved, Zulfiqar, Zareef, Bilal, Zakir, Zahid, Abdur Raheem, Salman, Amin, Irshad, Imran, Rab Nawaz, Ismael, Faqir Gul and Hazrat Hussain.