New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) The Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested four members of an interstate mobile phone theft gang and recovered 40 high-end smartphones, many of which had been stolen from a December 7 concert at IGI Stadium, officials said on Thursday.

A team from the Eastern Range-I of the Crime Branch, led by Inspector Ashish Sharma and supervised by ACP Sunil Srivastav, tracked the suspects for nearly 48 hours before intercepting them near Yamuna Vihar Metro Station on December 9.

The police said the accused kept shifting locations to evade surveillance, forcing the team to maintain continuous technical tracking.

The arrested men have been identified as Salman (35), Imran (28), Shahrukh (32) and Wasim (25), all residents of Ghaziabad.

Police recovered eight Apple iPhones — including iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 series along with seven premium Samsung models such as the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Fold 6.

The remaining phones belonged to OnePlus, Vivo, Oppo, Redmi, POCO and Motorola.

Several of the recovered devices have already been matched with FIRs registered at Prashant Vihar, Shahbad Dairy and IP Estate police stations.

According to officers, the gang targeted crowded public places such as concerts, metro stations, bus stops, bars, marketplaces and railway stations.

During interrogation, the alleged kingpin, Salman, confessed that they focused on events frequented by young people carrying expensive phones. Police said the group had been operating across Delhi-NCR for several months.

“The stolen phones were then swiftly shifted to Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), where the gang had established contacts in the grey market. The high-end devices were sold at throwaway prices within hours of the theft, making recovery extremely difficult,” the police said in its press note.

“Salman admitted that the gang had been actively operating in Delhi-NCR for the past several months and had committed scores of such thefts, earning them lakhs of rupees with almost no risk of getting caught until the present arrest,” it added.

Police said the four have been booked under Sections 35(1)(E) and 106 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).

“This operation underscores the Delhi Police Crime Branch’s commitment to curbing organised crime and apprehending hardened criminals. Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the accused’s associates and others, and to verify additional cases linked to the accused,” said DCP Vikram Singh.

–IANS

sas/dpb