Dubai: Four Indians have been arrested in Bahrain for allegedly using forged credit cards to buy 45 smartphones worth more than Rs 28 lakhs.
A detective presented evidence to the judges at the High Criminal Court yesterday that the accused were 'professionals' who had purchased the forgery devices they used online, the Gulf Daily News reported.
"We received information about four Indians who were on their way to purchase 50 mobile phones from an electronics shop in City Centre Bahrain," the detective told prosecutors.
"So we organised a sting operation to arrest the defendants red-handed. Two of them arrived at the shop and were about to use their forged credit cards when we arrested them and they led us to the rest of their co-defendants.
"They are professionals who purchased their devices online with which they forged credit cards. They had committed the same offence several times previously," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
18 forged credit cards were found in their possession, including several that apparently belong to a US national.
The four men pleaded not guilty to fraud and theft. They are accused of using forged credit cards to buy 45 Samsung Note 4 handheld devices and four iPhones, worth around 17,000 Bahraini Dinars, from the same electronics shop in Tubli over a two-week period in January.
When they were arrested, they were trying to purchase 15 more Samsung and Apple mobile phones from another electronics store. The trial has been adjourned until May 11 for submission of defence papers.