New Delhi, Dec 22: Delhi Police have busted a racket involved in the illegal assembly and sale of fake premium Samsung mobile phones in the Karol Bagh area and arrested four men, including the alleged kingpin, officials said on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of the Special Staff of the Central District conducted a raid on the intervening night of December 13 and 14 at a shop in Beadonpura, where the accused were caught red-handed while assembling counterfeit smartphones, police said.
The racket was allegedly assembling high-end Samsung models, including Ultra, Fold and Flip variants, using spare parts imported from China and selling them in the open market as genuine handsets, they said.
During the raid, police seized 512 counterfeit premium Samsung mobile phones, 124 motherboards, 138 batteries, 459 fake IMEI stickers marked “Made in Vietnam”, besides specialised tools used for assembly.
According to the police, fake IMEI numbers were pasted on the devices, which were sold to unsuspecting customers at prices ranging between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000 per unit.
The accused have been identified as Hakim (36), a resident of Ashok Vihar; Mehtab Ahmad Ansari (36) of Brijpuri; Ravi Ahuja (36) from Rohini; and Rahul (33), a resident of Karol Bagh.
During interrogation, the accused disclosed that Hakim, who studied till Class 8, was the mastermind behind the operation. Police said Hakim allegedly imported mobile phone components such as motherboards, cameras, speakers, body frames and back glass from China and assembled the phones with the help of his associates.
A case has been registered at Karol Bagh police station under relevant provisions of the Telecommunication Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), officials said.
Further investigation is underway to trace the supply chain, identify buyers and dismantle the wider network involved in the manufacture and sale of counterfeit premium mobile phones, police added.
