IMEI-tampering gang: 1 held with 563 mobiles

HYDERABAD: Cyberabad police arrested a former RTC employee and a habitual offender, Garadi Ramanji for buying stolen high-end mobile phones at cheap rates and selling them to gangs, who tampered with their IMEIs and sold them at higher prices. He had recently disposed of around 300 mobile phones.

The Prima facie probe revealed that gangs involved in tampering with IMEIs of mobile phones usually operate in Mumbai but they have now started operating in the city also.

As stolen mobile phones are reportedly being shipped to neighbouring states, it is becoming difficult for the local police to trace them.

After recovering 563 mobiles from Ramanji, he said that they were supplied to him by pickpocket gangs operating in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Accordingly, Cyberabad police are writing to state police departments, in an attempt to ensure the mobiles are handed over to their rightful owners.
Police have, however, ruled out the possibility of sending these mobiles abroad after a change of IMEI numbers.

“Though this aspect cannot be completely ruled out, there is no such indication or evidence at this stage of the investigation,” investigators told Deccan Chronicle.

“The hunt to nab city-based receivers Asif and Arshad has been intensified. Once they are caught, more details about how the mobiles are tampered with and where they are transported to would be known,” they said.