60,000 fake mobile phones seized in Dubai
05:11AM Tue 26 Aug, 2014
Dubai: Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) seized 60,000 fake mobile phones worth Dh48 million between August 9-23.
Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said the CID’s Anti-Economic Crime Department recorded 45 cases against 45 suspects.
The Anti-Economic Crime Department has identified different problems that fall under its jurisdiction and planned internal one-month campaigns that will take place one after the other, to tackle these problems. They launched the campaign against fake phones on August 9 and this will continue for a month.
“The phones we seized looked exactly like the originals. The public would not be able to tell if they were real or fake as they even have authentic-looking packaging. These phones were of well-known brands such as Samsung and iPhone, among others,” he said.
Undercover police posing as GCC and Asian nationals went to areas where fake phones were allegedly sold and bought some phones that they suspected are fakes.
The phones were checked by experts at Dubai Police and they determined that the phones were copies and not originals and, accordingly, some people were arrested.
“The problem with fake phones is that they are made of lower quality components, which can pose risks to its users. For example, a poor quality phone battery can overheat and explode after multiple charges,” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said.
Some of the fake phones come into the country as components – the keyboard, the screen and others — and are assembled here in workshops.
One of the cases involved one of these fake mobile assembly workshops.
Gulf News
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