Chennai: Two natives Maharashtra who sold fake branded mobile phones using bogus documents and fake hologram stickers to pass off as original were arrested by the Tiruvanmyur police on Tuesday.

The duo - Sanjay Ragunath Yadav, 30 and Thatta Ram lal Chawhan, 33, of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra -, came to the city in April with their families. They rented a room at a lodge near the Central Railway station and were staying there.

“They bought duplicate mobiles at dead cheap rates from a local electronic market from their hometowns and worked on them at the lodge in Chennai to sell them off as originals. They brought with them at least 100 such mobile phones,” said a police officer adding that the duo also had in their possession, hologram stickers, fake IMEI stickers and brand stickers apart from bill books to make their act convincing.

Investigations revealed that after converting their cheap mobile phone into a ‘branded’ one, they would sell them in south Chennai, especially in places like Besant Nagar, Tiruvanmyur and surrounding areas, police said.

“Most often, the mobiles were sold at a rate of Rs 3000-5000 as compared to the actual cost of these handsets at below Rs 1000,” the investigating officer said. Their wives were also into the trade and they approached vehicles in traffic signals with their babies in tow trying to sell the phone. “They would claim that they are in need of money to travel to their home town,” the officer said.

Raghunath and Ram Lal were caught red handed when they tried to sell off 66 such mobile phones in bulk to a dealer. They were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.