Kolkata: A 23-year-old Bangladeshi national,Imran Ahmed, was arrested by Kolkata Police’s detective department on Kyd Street on Thursday night, putting a halt to an organized cross-border mobile snatching spree tailored specifically to target shoppers during the festive rush.Acting on a tip-off, officers from the watch section shadowed and detained two suspects near Classic Hotel under the Park Street Police Station limits. “Police identified the primary accused as Imran Ahmed, a resident of Shariyatpur, Bangladesh, and his local associate as Asif Ali, alias Chhotu (32), from Belghoria in North 24 Parganas,” said additional CP (crime) Kunal Agarwal.Cops seized 56 high-end android mobile phones from Ahmed, several of them second hand, and all of them suspected to be stolen and primed for smuggling across the border. Possessing a valid single-entry T1 tourist visa issued for a three-month window spanning Aug to Nov, Ahmed wasn’t in Kolkata for sightseeing or shopping.“During interrogation, the accused confessed he used to visit India for about a month every year to commit such crimes and take back the items to Bangladesh, where they fetched a good price,” said a senior police officer. Ahmed’s entry into the petty crime world had begun several months ago, claimed cops, when he first crossed the border alongside a friend who mentored him in the art of quick-cash phone thefts and in the world of buying and selling stolen items. Realizing that high-end devices could easily be flipped for hefty markups across the border, he turned the operation into an annual pilgrimage, claimed investigators.A case has been registered against both accused at the Park Street Police Station.Although Ahmed held valid travel documents, Agarwal noted that cops are scrutinising his entry details.“We are contacting our Bangladeshi counterparts to check his antecedents,” said an officer.“He regularly applied for short-term tourist visas—timing his arrivals ahead of major festivals. Working with local gangs, Ahmed collected stolen handsets and reportedly smuggled them across the border before his visa expired,” said an officer.
