The police have found children employed for stealing mobile phones in crowded places in the city. Children aged 10 – 14 years are being employed for the purpose.
The police reportedly have found a gang of thieves from another state employing such children. The children do the job at crowded places. These include railway and bus stations, markets and examination centres. The gang pays the children stealing mobile phones Rs 10,000.
The children (boys and girls) do thus: they go daily by RTC buses to busy places in the city, divert attention of people there and pick the mobile phones from their pockets.
The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers of the stolen mobiles are erased, and the mobiles are sold in other states so that the police cannot track them.
The children do the job of stealing for a month and are sent back home to the states. Such children can get bail if arrested under Juvenile Justice of Children’s Act.
Source – The Hindu