Goa Police bust mobile thief gang targeting partygoers at Sunburn

MAPUSA

The Goa Police on Fridayclaimed it busted a gang involved in mobile thefts ostensibly targeting the ongoingSunburn Electronic DanceMusic (EDM) festival, recovering 29 high-end mobiles setsestimated to cost around Rs10 lakh.Police said that 18 accused– all but one from Mumbai –have been arrested.The police had receivedcredible information that agang of thieves would arrivein the State to target peoplewho attended the Sunburnmusical festival held at Vagator in Anjuna.

Accordingly, police personnel in plainclothes weredeployed at specific pointsto keep watch on suspiciouspersons moving around at thevenue of the EDM festival.

“Late Thursday evening,we rounded up two personswho were found moving suspiciously at the venue. Duringinterrogation the duo spilledthe beans and revealed thatthey along with other members of the group had cometo the festival to steal mobilephones,” said Jivba Dalvi,SDPO Mapusa sub-division.

Further investigation ledthe police team to one hotelin Calangute during which theremaining 16 persons werealso arrested.

A total of 29 high-end mobile phones all worth aroundRs 10 lakh and three vehicleswhich were used by the accused have been seized by thepolice.

While one of the accusedPramod Pujari (26) is a resident of Shivmoga, Karnataka,the remaining 17 accused inthe age group of 20 to 40 yearswere all from Mumbai.An offence under Section379 r/w 34 of the IPC has beenregistered against the accused.