With the arrest of seven people, the crime branch unit (Zone III) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police claim to have busted an interstate gang involved in theft of remote Radio Frequency Receiver (RR) units, AZNA cards and other expensive telecom equipment from 5G mobile towers. Alarmed by the rise in cases of equipment thefts from mobile towers, MBVV chief- Madhukar Pandey directed the crime branch unit to conduct parallel investigations and nab the culprits at the earliest. The gang had stolen the RR unit of a mobile tower in Nallasopara on 22, August.

A team led by police inspector-Pramod Badhakh started investigations into the case and on the virtue of electronic surveillance apprehended seven members of the gang from various parts of Mumbai, Mustafabad in Delhi and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. The accused have been identified as-Shubham Yadav (24), Shailesh Yadav (25), Kapurchand Gupta (25), Bansilal Jain (50), Zakir Mallik (25), Zaid Mallik (19) and Junaid Mallik (24). According to the police, the gang members stole RR units and AZNA cards which are crucial and expensive equipment with the help of which telecom operators connect devices to wireless networks for 5G transition and cloud connectivity.

During investigations it also came to light that the accused illegally sold the stolen units in Hong Kong and China where their software and hardware were reprogrammed before selling them in the black market. The police recovered 36 RR units worth more than Rs.40 lakh from the possession of the serial thieves which they had stolen in various states including-Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Punjab and Goa. Meanwhile an offence under the relevant sections of the  Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), 2023 has been registered at the Achole police station against the accused who have been remanded to police custody.

Around 20 cases of thefts have been registered against the gang members at police stations in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Bihar. Further investigations were underway.