Kochi: The Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Ernakulam have arrested a man in connection with the theft of a passenger’s mobile phone from Sabari Express, using a stick to knock it out of the passenger’s hand.

The accused, Mohammed Ali (21), a native of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal, is the fourth member of a four-member gang involved in the incident that took place on August 16.

Ali was part of the gang that had targeted passengers who used their phones while standing near the doors of trains. When the Sabari Express slowed down at Pullepady, between Ernakulam Junction and Ernakulam Town railway stations, they used a long stick to strike the phone out of a passenger’s hand. The device fell out of the train and was quickly picked up by the gang members waiting nearby.

Three other members of the gang – Mohammed Kasim, Munna Mushtaq, and Abdul Latheef – were arrested by RPF on August 17 and are currently lodged in Kakkanad District Jail. All of them are natives of West Bengal.

According to RPF officials, Ali had switched off his phone and gone into hiding after the crime. He was arrested from a bakery in Cherthala, where he had been working under the false name Mohammed Ansar, after the officers tracked him for three days based on a tip-off. Ali will be produced before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Court and remanded.

A similar incident was reported in Aluva in which a six-member gang was arrested by the RPF after they struck a passenger, who was using his mobile phone by the door, and then snatched away his mobile phone. The police later arrested all of them.

RPF officers said that while videos of similar robberies are common in northern states, this method of using sticks to snatch mobile phones has been reported in Kerala only recently. Passengers have been advised to avoid using mobile phones near open train doors, especially when trains slow down in urban areas.