Traders on the run for helping phone-stealing couple get bail

On Thursday night, the victim, S Gowri — employed at a private firm in Besant Nagar — was waiting to board a bus from Beach Railway station to her home in Manali. She made a call to her husband and moved to a quieter place to talk when she was approached by a woman who requested Gowri for her phone to make a call.

Immediately, a man came to the woman’s side, threatened Gowri with a knife and snatched her phone. The couple then fled in an autorickshaw. Gowri later lodged a complaint with the North Beach police.

A case was registered, and a team secured P Mannaiya (40) alias Venkatesh of Korukkupet and his wife Priyanka (23) on suspicion near Beach railway station on Friday morning. Two phones were seized from them of which, onewas Gowri’s.

During investigation, the police discovered that the couple would steal and sell the phones to shopkeepers at Burma Bazaar. They also recovered two more phones from their house. The police said that Mannaiya and Priyanka have cases against them in Tambaram and that the couple had moved to Korukkupet only last year.

According to the police, the couple’s primary modus operandi is to steal phones when commuters try to board crowded MTC buses. “One of them would unzip bags while the other would slip phones out of them. They also rob women at less crowded places,” said inspector Sankar.

The police have also identified the shopkeepers who buy stolen phones from the couple: Naina Mohammed, Kaja Moideen, Thamim, Basheer, Karthik and Imran. “If either of them gets caught, the other person takes an advance from the shopkeepers for bail,” said the police. While the couple has been remanded in judicial custody, a hunt has been launched for the shopkeepers who have gone into hiding.