Interstate syndicate involved in smuggling stolen telecom units to Hong Kong busted; four held in Delhi

New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) Four suspects linked with an alleged interstate syndicate involved in stealing high-value telecom equipment from mobile towers and smuggling them to Hong Kong have been arrested, an official said on Tuesday. Police have recovered 43 stolen remote radio units (RRUs) worth around Rs 70 lakh, he said. Police suspect that the racket had been operating for the past eight to nine months and have exported over 800 stolen RRUs through airline cargo using forged invoices and false declarations to evade scrutiny. The arrestees have been identified as Hemant Gupta (31) and Vikas Paswan (30) of Delhi, Fareed (28) of Ghaziabad and Sher Mohammad (27) of Meerut, a senior police officer said. According to Delhi Police Crime Branch, the racket is allegedly involved in at least 19 cases of RRU theft registered across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. RRUs are critical components installed in mobile towers to facilitate transmission and reception of voice and data signals. Their theft disrupts telecom services and causes heavy losses to service providers. "Acting on intelligence that stolen RRUs were being stored in east Delhi before being shipped abroad, the team kept the suspects under surveillance and identified a network linked to buyers in Hong Kong. On July 10, police received specific information that a consignment of stolen RRUs was being moved to a courier facility in Mahipalpur for export," the police officer said. Subsequently, a trap was laid near a godown and courier office, and Hemant Gupta and Vikas Paswan were apprehended. Police said Gupta was transporting 19 stolen RRUs in a van. Soon afterwards, Fareed and Sher Mohammad arrived in a car carrying nine more stolen RRUs. A search of the godown led to recovery of four additional units, while another 11 RRUs were seized from a transport worker who had arrived in an another van to deliver the consignment, police said. A total of 43 RRUs, a car, a van, four mobile phones and a desktop computer were seized. During interrogation, the team learnt that the stolen telecom equipment was exported through courier agencies in Mahipalpur after being falsely declared as "power supply point" equipment and supported with forged invoices, police said. They said Vikas Paswan is the alleged kingpin of the racket, coordinating the receipt, storage and export of the stolen equipment. PTI BM ARB ARB