Srinagar, Aug 8: In a major crackdown on property theft and illegal mobile trafficking, Railway Police Post Mazhama intercepted two persons and recovered 59 stolen smartphones at Mazhama Railway Station on Saturday.
Officials told that alert police personnel deployed outside the station noticed two bike-borne youth carrying a bulky polythene bag in a suspicious manner. When stopped and questioned, they could not give a proper explanation about the contents.
A search of the bag led to the recovery of 59 brand-new smartphones of various companies.
The arrested have been identified as Shahnawaz Ahmad Rather, 25, son of Abdul Rehman Rather, and Mehboob Hussain Rather, 18, son of Fayaz Ahmad Rather, both residents of Mattipora in Pattan, Baramulla district.
The seized phone’s include 12 Samsung, 11 OnePlus, 7 Redmi, 6 Vivo, 5 Oppo, 5 Motorola, 46 Realme, 2 Xiaomi, and one each of Infinix GT, Nothing, Honor, Narzo, Google, CMF and iQOO.
During questioning, prime accused Shahnawaz reportedly told police that the consignment had been sent to him through a courier parcel from Bengaluru in November 2025 by Showkat Ali Rather, son of Ali Mohammad Rather and also a resident of Mattipora, Pattan. Police said that on contacting Showkat’s family, it came to light that he has been missing since November 2025.
A case FIR No. 3 of 2026 has been registered at Railway Police Station Srinagar under Section 317 of BNS and Section 147 of the Railway Act.
Police have launched a probe to trace the inter-state courier trail and to unearth the larger network behind the stolen devices.(GNS)
