New Delhi: The Delhi Police arrested a receiver and international supplier of stolen mobile phones and recovered 42 smartphones from his shop in Karol Bagh, an official said on Sunday.
The accused, identified as Satender Pratap Singh alias Surjeet (47), a resident of Mahroli in Delhi, was allegedly preparing to ship the stolen devices to Nepal when he was apprehended, he said.
“With his arrest, four mobile theft cases were solved in the national capital, and investigations are ongoing to link more cases,” the officer added.
According to the police, Surjeet was previously involved in at least 10 criminal cases, including mobile theft, house theft, snatching and robbery. He had also supplied over 300 to 400 stolen mobile phones to Nepal in the past.
Acting on a tip-off about the illegal activity, a raid was conducted on July 19 at Surjeet’s shop by a crime branch team. During the raid, 42 mobile phones were recovered from the shop. These included 16 iPhones and several other high-end Android models.
Initial investigation revealed that Surjeet allegedly operated as a key link between local thieves and international grey markets. He would purchase stolen and snatched mobile phones from street criminals and later route them to Nepal for resale.
“The accused confessed during interrogation that he had built his network while serving time in Tihar Jail, where he came in contact with several known criminals,” the officer noted.
Surjeet began his career working in a PCO booth in Punjabi Bagh between 1997 and 2000. Over the years, he moved into mobile accessories and second-hand phone businesses. By 2017, lured by quick profits, he began buying stolen mobile phones from criminals and was arrested in a series of cases the same year, the police said.
Singh was born in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh and moved to Delhi in 1999. He studied up to Class 10 in a government school and is married with two children.
After being released from jail in 2017, he allegedly resumed his operations by opening a shop in Karol Bagh where he sold mobile accessories and counterfeit products. Besides that, he continued purchasing stolen mobile phones for smuggling outside India, the police mentioned.
Further investigation is in progress.
