Navi Mumbai Trio Arrested for Rs 17 Lakh Smartphone Heist

Three individuals have been arrested from Navi Mumbai for stealing mobile phones and other items worth Rs 17 lakh in Thane city. The police recovered the stolen goods, including smartphones, smart watches, and ear buds. The accused have prior criminal records and were apprehended in Turbhe village.

Police have arrested three persons from Navi Mumbai for allegedly stealing mobile phones and other items worth Rs 17 lakh in Maharashtra's Thane city two weeks ago, an official said.

According to Sunil Shinde of the Navi Mumbai police's central crime unit, ''Some miscreants had entered the shop located in APMC Market area in Navi Mumbai's Vashi on July 14, and stole mobile phones and other items worth more than Rs 17 lakh.''

Following the incident, two teams were formed to trace the accused. Based on technical and intelligence inputs, they zeroed in on the culprits in Turbhe village of Navi Mumbai, he said.

The police recovered the entire booty from them, including 101 packed smartphones, 26 branded smart watches, 10 ear buds, and other electronic goods, totally worth Rs 17,19,606, he said.

An FIR under sections 331(4) (house breaking), 305 (theft), 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered against the accused, identified as Selvaraj Mani Nadar (55), Naresh Kumar Munnilal Varma (27), and Aniket Samsher Yadav (19), the official said.

During their interrogation, it came to light that Nadar had 12 cases registered against him at nine police stations, while one case was registered against Yadav at the Sanpada station, he added.

(With inputs from agencies.)