01 July,2026 03:52 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The accused have been remanded in police custody till Saturday. PIC/MUMBAI POLICE
Mumbai Police's Crime Branch has arrested four persons and busted an alleged gang involved in stealing underground Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) cables, recovering stolen property and equipment collectively worth over Rs 1 crore, officials said on Wednesday.
According to a press note issued by the crime branch's unit 10, the action was carried out on Tuesday, June 30, following a tip-off about a gang allegedly transporting stolen underground MTNL cables near the Clarion Building on Sant Marol Road, close to the Magathane Telephone Exchange in Borivali East.
During the raid, the police intercepted two Bolero pickup vehicles allegedly carrying stolen cables and arrested four accused identified as Sahil Shakeel Sah (20), Abdul Siddique Ahmed Sheikh (38), Rizwan Mehtab Malik (24), and Mohammad Afzal Hasan Khan (35).
The police registered a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Telecommunications Act, 2023, in connection with the theft.
The crime branch said it seized around 985 metres of underground MTNL cable, two Bolero pickup vehicles, a JCB machine and two mobile phones during the operation. The total value of the seized property has been estimated at Rs 1,00,05,000.
Officials said two of the accused have previous criminal records. Abdul Sheikh was earlier booked by Navghar Police in a case registered in 2025, while Khan has a theft case registered against him at Kandivali Police Station in 2024.
The accused have been remanded in police custody till Saturday. Investigators are now probing whether the gang was involved in other incidents of MTNL cable theft across Mumbai and are also trying to identify additional accomplices.
The crime branch further said several cases of MTNL cable theft have been registered at different police stations across Mumbai over the past two years, including Charkop, Samta Nagar, Aarey, Kurar, Goregaon, and Dindoshi police stations, and investigators are examining possible links between those cases and the arrested accused.
Expensive electrical cables worth nearly Rs 2.68 lakh were stolen from the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) premises, following which NMIA Police registered a case against unidentified people. The complaint was lodged by 36-year-old Akash Raj Piya, who works as a supervisor at the airport.
According to the police, the cables of Orbit brand, belonging to Chemi Pvt Ltd, were stored inside a locked container near the workers' canteen close to Terminal-1. The accused allegedly broke open the lock and fled with the costly materials between May 26 afternoon and May 27 morning.
The stolen property includes 2.5 mm cables worth around 1.46 lakh and 4 mm cables valued at nearly 1.22 lakh, taking the total property loss to Rs 2.68 lakh.
