Shops selling used mobile phones under police scanner

Police teams seized more than 2,500 mobile phones during the raids, and are now checking if these were stolen equipment.

After Pondy Bazaar police arrested 25-year-old Abdul Rahman of Perambur for selling parts of stolen iPhones and seized as many as 50 iPhones from his shop in Burma Bazaar, a special team comprising three Assistant Commissioners searched shops selling used handsets and seized as many as 2,000 mobile phones to check if their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number matched with the database of stolen or lost mobile phones in the city.

In a similar drive, the North Beach police raided several shops in Burma Bazaar and seized 325 mobile phones and 20 laptops without proper documents.

A senior officer told DT Next that these shops were brought under the police scanner on specific input, and added that the raids would continue.

Equipment to alter IMEI number of phones seized: Rising concerns about the possibility of tracing stolen handsets using IMEI number, police seized an equipment used to alter the IMEI number from a shop in Parrys Corner followed the confession of a broker dealing with stolen mobile phones.

On November 6, two men robbed a mobile phone and two-wheeler from one Krishnamoorthy in Taramani. The police nabbed the duo, Vijay and Naveenkumar, and based on their inputs, arrested Siddique, a broker,from Burma Bazaar.

During interrogation, Siddique pointed fingers at one Abdul Wahab, who runs a phone service centre in Parrys Corner. “With the equipment he procured from abroad, he flashed the IMEI number of Android phones for just Rs 200,” said an officer. But Wahab managed to escape beforepolice reached his shop.

A senior officer on condition of anonymity said that none of the seized mobile phones have matched with the database of stolen phones so far.