Berhampur: Odisha Police Sunday arrested 21 burglars and recovered 1,066 mobile phones during raids in Ganjam district, officials said.
According to police, 20 of them are from West Bengal.
The arrests were made during raids in Bhanjanagar area, where the gang members were staying. They were allegedly involved in looting mobile phones from different parts of Odisha and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, police added.
Police said they seized 1,066 mobile phones, five tablets and accessories, including 1,275 batteries and 424 motherboards, besides 11 motorcycles and nine fake number plates. The value of the seized items has been estimated at around Rs 50 lakh.
Ganjam Additional SP Ranjan Kumar Dey said police suspect the accused may have smuggled the looted mobile phones to other countries.
A detailed investigation is underway to ascertain the source of the mobile phones and the reason for possessing such a huge number of devices, he said.
Out of the arrested persons, 20 hail from different districts of West Bengal and the remaining one was from Bhanjanagar.
The accused resided in four rented houses in Bhanjanagar. While seven of them stayed in a house, 13 others lived in three houses, police added.
