Mumbai Crime: Gang that sold stolen iPhones busted, 3 held

The gang sold the phones from a store at an Andheri mall, said the police

The Crime Branch has arrested three persons, including the owner of a mobile phone shop, on the charge of buying stolen iPhones and selling the devices after removing software restrictions on them.

The police have seized 52 phones worth about Rs 10 lakh from a shop run by suspect Raes Khiylani at a mall in Andheri. The other two men in custody have been identified as Asif Dodiya and Tarif Shaikh.

Officers from Unit 12 of the Crime Branch that busted the gang said the fraudsters dealt only in Apple products. They used some tools to breach the operating system of the phones.

"This is a big gang operating in Mumbai. We are taking expert help to understand how the software is used to jailbreak the system before selling the phones in the open market," said a Crime Branch officer.

In tech jargon, jailbreaking refers to removal of restrictions on Apple products like the iPad, iPhone and iPod. It allows root access to the Apple operating system or iOS and facilitates installation of applications that are not authorised by Apple's App Store.

During the raid led by inspector Mahesh Tawde, the cops also recovered two jailbreaking digital tools and as many Seagate hard drives from Khiylani's shop.

The cops are now searching for the suspected mastermind, Mohammed Aribi, alias Momo, who apparently formatted the stolen phones without using any passwords and changed their ecosystem.

52
No. of stolen phones seized

Rs 10L
Cost of the stolen phones