Thane, Oct 5 (PTI) The police in Maharashtra's Thane district have arrested six members of a gang allegedly involved in stealing equipment from mobile towers and recovered goods worth Rs 40 lakh, an official said on Saturday.
The gang was allegedly involved in 20 cases of thefts in the jurisdiction of different police stations, including Achole, Valiv, Pelhar, and in Bihar, an official said.
The accused hail from Mumbai, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, he said.
The police were probing into the thefts of AZNA cards essential for the functioning of 5G networks, and they expanded the investigation to the Mira-Bhayander and Vasai-Virar areas, the official said.
With the help of technical and intelligence inputs, the police tracked down the gang and recovered 36 stolen cards from them, he said.
The gang allegedly altered the software and hardware of the stolen items before selling them in the blackmarket in Hong Kong and China.
The investigation has revealed that equipment was not only stolen from Mumbai, Thane, and Navi Mumbai, but also from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Punjab, and Goa.