KARACHI: Police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a man for stealing over 100 cell phones from a shop in a mobile phone market.

“On the night of July 27, an offence of theft took place at Amma Tower shopping mall in which a suspect broke open the locks of a shop and stole 111 mobiles worth Rs 3.5 million,” said SSP South Sheeraz Nazeer.

The Preedy police registered a case (FIR 717/2019) under relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and launched an investigation.

“After hectic efforts and analysing CCTV footage, a suspect has been arrested in Saddar and 80 mobiles have been recovered so far,” said the SSP.

He identified the suspect as Yasir.

He said that the suspect was familiar with access or passage to enter the building and some people also recognised him with the help of the CCTV footage which showed him entering the mall.

Four guards present at the gates of the mobile market did not notice his movement. However, in the initial probe the police ruled out possibility of involvement of any guard in the theft.

Saddar SP Amjad Hayat said that the suspect had entered the closed market on Saturday night and stayed there for 36 hours till Monday morning.

He had also brought with him food and two water bottles for his stay. He also broke open the locks of the gate of a nearby bank but could not succeed in stealing anything there, he added.

During the theft, he had “blackened” the CCTV cameras, the SP said.

This was the second time that such a major robbery had taken place in the same market.

As many as 80 mobile phones and Rs700,000 were taken away from a mobile shop at Amma Tower on April 11. A case was registered on April 13. Apparently the same suspect was also involved in the earlier heist.

“During interrogation, the held suspect also confessed that he had stolen mobiles worth Rs7.9m and Rs700,000 from the same market in the recent past,” said DIG South Sharjeel Kharal.

The DIG added that the IMEI number of the stolen mobile phones had been matched with some of the cell phones recovered from the suspect.

According to the April 13 FIR, expensive mobile phones were stolen from a shop despite the presence of 10-12 security guards in the market.

Meanwhile, two persons were killed in different armed attacks in the metropolis on Wednesday, adds PPI.

According to rescue sources, unknown armed men riding a motorbike opened fire at a 23-year-old youth, Hamza, in Dastagir Block-15. As a result, he suffered severe bullet injuries and died on the spot.

The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for medico-legal formalities.

Separately, unidentified suspects shot dead a 40-year-old man, Farhan, in New Karachi. His body was shifted to ASH for an autopsy.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2019