Pune: Sleuths from Crime Branch unit III have nabbed a 19-year-old youth and claimed to have recovered 31 smartphones worth Rs 2.96 lakh, which he had stolen from passengers in PMPML and state transport buses. 

The arrested accused Awaiz Parvez Shaikh, a resident of Hadapsar, is a drug addict, the police said. Acting on a tip-off received by police naik Sandip Talekar, Shaikh was caught at Swargate bus stand when he was trying to sell stolen phones on Friday. 

DCP (Crime) Pankaj Dahane said, “While frisking him, we found six smartphones in his possession. Later, 25 more phones were recovered from him. He used to sell the phones to prices as low as Rs 2,000.”

The investigation team was led by Inspector Sitaram More, in-charge of Crime Branch unit III.