NEW YORK -- A recent police crackdown on newsstands, barbershops and convenience stores throughout New York City last week led to the arrest of 141 suspects who allegedly purchased Apple iPhones and iPods from undercover officers, according to a report in the Queens Gazette.
The suspects believed the items they purchased from the undercover cops were stolen, police said.
“This was a two-pronged approach to apprehend both thieves and receivers of stolen property,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the newspaper.
Undercover police officers visited the locations and offered merchants items they clearly identified as stolen goods at “fire sale prices,” Kelly said.
“The officers offered the merchants Apple iPhone4s and Apple iPod2s for prices ranging from $50 to $200 each.”
Police arrested 21 merchants in Queens, who each found the deal too good to pass up, Kelly said.
The stings followed stepped-up decoy operations in city subways, conducted by transit police who were determined to capture thieves swiping stolen hand-held electronic devices from inattentive straphangers.
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