The Goa police apprehended a gang of thieves who had come to the coastal state from Maharashtra during the festive period to target tourists to steal their mobile phones and other valuables at the Sunburn music festival as well as other crowded places and events.
North Goa superintendent of police (SP) Nidhin Valsan said that a gang of 12 people have been arrested so far and 41 mobile phones, mainly Apple iPhones and other expensive foldable phones, were recovered from them.
Police initially acted on a complaint filed by one Jitesh Mehta, a resident of Pune, who reported that his Samsung Fold Z3 was snatched from his pocket during his holiday in Goa.
“Acting upon the information, staff of the Calangute police station proceeded in search of the accused person and upon verifying CCTV footage an accused was traced to a hotel at Baga, Calangute. After a thorough interrogation it came to light that two gangs consisting of 12 people from Maharashtra who are residents of different parts of India, came down to Goa specifically to commit theft of mobile phones,” Valsan said.
“They were later apprehended from two different hotels at Baga, Calangute and recovered 41 branded mobile phones of different make, all worth ₹30 lakhs. Two Toyota Innova cars involved in the said case are also seized,” Valsan added.
“The phone of the original complainant has also been recovered,” he added.
According to the police, the gang were set to target the second and third day of the ongoing three-day Sunburn music festival and had even purchased tickets in order to enter the venue and target attendees who were likely to be inattentive about their personal belongings.
The Goa police have also set up teams to patrol and watch out for other gangs of drug peddlers, touts and other law breakers as the state deals with a large influx of tourists in the run up to the New Year.
“Christmas passed off largely peacefully in Goa and we are pulling all the stops to ensure that New Year too passes off without any major incident,” Valsan said.
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