The Mahadevapura police busted a gang of mobile thieves, including five women, who travelled in crowded buses to divert the attention of passengers and steal their mobile phones .
Based on a mobile theft complaint, the police kept a close watch on crowded buses and arrested the accused, identified as Radha, Rashi, Nandini, Shankaramma, and Shanthamma, and recovered 120 mobile phones worth ₹30 lakh from them.
The accused stayed in a rented house and moved around crowded buses in groups to steal phones. The accused would sell the stolen phones to their contact in Andhra Pradesh who would visit the city once in a fortnight to collect the goods in bulk.
The accused would sell the phones at throwaway prices ranging from ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 a piece and share the profits among themselves.
The gang was operating in the city for quite some time and suspected to have stolen many more phones . The police have requested people to contact the Whitefield division police if they have lost phones while travelling in buses.
