The Mumbai police Crime Branch’s Unit 6 has busted an IMEI-tampering racket running out of a mobile shop in Saki Naka’s Tunga village, exposing how stolen handsets were being digitally “reborn” before being pushed into the second-hand market. Two men were arrested, and several tampered devices along with electronic equipment were seized.

The accused have been identified as Ram Prasad Sargun Rajbhar, 37, owner of Ram Mobile Service Centre, and Ghulam Rasool Rashid Khan, 21, a mobile repair mechanic from the same area. According to police, the duo would buy stolen phones and reprogram their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers to make them appear as genuine devices.