9 mobile phone snatchers held, 27 handsets recovered

Abiramapuram police arrested three men who were allegedly involved in a series of mobile phone thefts.

The men – R Nagaraj (19) and K Naveen Kumar (19) – are bike mechanics, and B Deepak Kumar (21), acollege student from Kotturpuram. They were all identified as first-time offenders, police said.

They allegedly snatched mobile phone from G Selvaraj (52) of Kodambakkam on Wednesday night when he was walkingtowards Greenways Road railway station.

The same night, they also snatched mobile phone from another person, B Ravi Balasubramanian (54) of Mylapore near H M Hospital. Based on the CCTV footage, police arrested the trio.

Meanwhile, Ambattur police arrested K Gowthaman (26) from Ambattur and K Santhosh (26) from Pudur, who snatched the mobile phone of Murugan (48) at Pattaravakkam on Wednesday.

Murugan lodged a complaint at the Ambattur police station and the suspects were nabbed during a vehicle check. Based on their inputs, police also arrested Mohammed Yusuf (34) from Pudur, who purchased the stolen phones and seized 19 mobile phones and a two-wheeler from Mohammed. A hunt was launched for another suspect Karthik.

Similarly, in Virugambakkam, police arrested two persons two days after they snatched the mobile phone from Palani, a college student.

They were identified as M Karthik Prabhu (20) from Madipakkam and A Azharuddin (21) from Saidapet, and recovered the stolen phone and a two-wheeler from them.