Mumbai: Western Express Highway turns hotspot for mobile phone snatching gangs amid CCTV blind spots

The Western Express Highway WEH Mumbais busiest northsouth corridor is fast emerging as a hotspot for organised mobile phone snatching gangs with police sources pointing to poor surveillance strategic escape routes and repeat offenders operating from the citys eastern suburbsAn investigation by midday found that critical stretches between Dahisar and Bandra suffer from inadequate or nonfunctional CCTV coverage making it easier for thieves to strike and disappearNo CCTV cameras were found along this stretch of the Western Express HighwayWhile police have recently cracked a 10case snatching racket and arrested two accused from Govandi officers admit that gaps in surveillance continue to hamper investigations along the 26km corridorWhy it mattersWhen snatchers leave the highway and enter adjoining lanes or service roads investigators often lose their trailVictim profilegtgt Autorickshaw passengersgtgt Commuters using phones for calls navigation or messaginggtgt Travellers stuck in slowmoving trafficTarget locked Why premium iPhones are being targetedCCTV cameras installed over a highway section near Bandra EastAccording to police sources thieves are highly selective and primarily target expensive smartphonesPreferred targetgtgt iPhone Pro 17 modelsPolice sources claim the phonesrsquo distinctive bright orange or saffroncoloured backs make them easy to identify from a distance while scanning trafficHow the gangs operateSpot the targetSnatchers identify commuters holding expensive phones in slowmoving trafficRide alongsideTwo accused travel on motorcycles often using partial or altered number platesStrike swiftlyThe pillion rider snatches the phone from the victimrsquos handVanish completelyThe duo quickly disappears through service roads and side lanesCrime map Major hotspotsgtgt Samta Nagargtgt Kurargtgt Dindoshigtgt Vanraigtgt Jogeshwarigtgt AndheriThe investigation found thatgtgt Mobile snatching is concentrated along the Western Express Highwaygtgt Several CCTV cameras are either nonfunctional or provide poorquality footagegtgt Most thefts target passengers travelling in autorickshawsgtgt Premium iPhone models are the preferred targetsgtgt Arrested accused in recent cases are linked to Govandigtgt Police solved recent cases using informants private CCTV footage and technical analysisThe blind spotsPolice sources said surveillance infrastructure along large sections of the highway remains inadequateKey concernsgtgt Sparse CCTV coverage between Dahisar and Bandragtgt Cameras largely installed only at exit pointsgtgt Several cameras not functioninggtgt Poor image quality makes vehicle identification difficultgtgt Service roads remain largely unmonitoredThe digital alibi trickPolice say accused have developed methods to avoid detectionModus operandigtgt Suspects leave their mobile phones at home or with acquaintancesgtgt Calls are made from those phones while the accused commit crimes elsewheregtgt Investigators checking Call Detail Records CDRs are shown a misleading location trailPolice workaroundTo crack recent cases officers relied ongtgt Private CCTV footagegtgt Human intelligence networksgtgt Behavioural analysisgtgt Technical surveillanceExperts call forgtgt Highdefinition CCTV cameras and seamless coverage on highwaysgtgt Automatic Number Plate Recognition systemsgtgt Surveillance at every Metro stationgtgt Constant monitoring of foot overbridgesCase FileDate June 1 2026Victim A woman travelling by autorickshaw to Kandivli East from PowaiLocationNear Akurli Metro Station on the Western Express HighwayWhat happenedTwo motorcycleborne men allegedly snatched her iPhone 17 at around 1150 pmArrestedgtgt Zaid Sharif Qureshi 20gtgt Mohd Moin Yamin Qureshi alias Mona 25Police claimgtgt Accused traced to Shivaji Nagar Govandigtgt 10 mobile snatching offences detectedgtgt Cases linked to Andheri Jogeshwari Goregaon Dindoshi Kasturba Marg Samta Nagar and Dahisar jurisdictionsProperty seizedgtgt One Pulsar NS motorcyclegtgt Two Samsung mobile phones