FREMONT — A major fencing operation involving businesses in Hayward and El Cajon that specialized in buying and reselling cell phones and other electronics stolen during robberies and burglaries — including sales to people in foreign countries, has been broken up by Fremont police, authorities said Friday.
Eight people have been arrested so far and approximately $350,000 in cash, 1,800 stolen electronic devices and two shotguns and two pistols have been recovered.
Police said in their release that evidence found indicates the vast majority of the phones were being shipped to countries such as Dubai, Vietnam, Mexico, China, Russia, Iran and many others.
The targets of the investigation, which involved the assistance of other law enforcement agencies and the serving of eight search warrants on Oct. 25, were two businesses: Torspin Wireless in Hayward and MJ Wireless in El Cajon.
Police said as part of ongoing efforts to combat the rise in vehicle burglaries involving the loss of electronics, investigators developed information that Torspin Wireless was the largest electronics fence for stolen property in the Bay Area. The release said “through hundreds of hours of surveillance, detectives were able to confirm the business was conducting illegal activity and their methods were actually driving crime in the region, specifically robberies of high end cellular phones and auto burglaries.”
The release referenced the arrest of 12 men and women in August by Oakland police and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office who are suspected of being members of an Oakland based robbery crew that specialized in stealing new phones, primarily iPhones, from FedEx and UPS trucks. That investigation involved 62 robberies or grand thefts in 31 cities across 10 counties with a retail loss of about $1 million.
One of those arrested and charged in that case was Isaiah Langley, 22, a former East Bay high school football star who was briefly with the Oakland Raiders in June and July while two of the heists were done. Authorities said some of the suspects in that case, including Langley, were seen and filmed by law enforcement selling the stolen phones to Torspin almost immediately after several of the robberies.
The release said that through the course of the investigation detectives learned Torspin was working with and being financed by MJ Wireless.
Fremont police Lt. Michael Tegner said the businesses posted Google documents for so-called “preferred customers” that gave a range of prices they would pay for phones and other electronics. Prices ranged from several hundred dollars to more than $1,000 for iPhone 11 models. He said the prices changed every day. “It was like the stock market.”
Detectives did multiple surveillance operations on the business and conducted eight undercover buy/sell operations between the two stores, selling a total of 145 reported stolen phones for more than $45,000 to the stores, the release said.
On the day the search warrants were served, undercover detectives coordinated the sale of 900 reportedly stolen iPhone 11’s with a retail value of $1.3 million to MJ Wireless and Torspin Wireless during which the eight suspects were arrested. Four of those arrested have been formally charged so far with attempted possession of stolen property, according to court records..
They were identified by police as Muhibullah Nuristani, his brother Mujibullah Nuristani of El Cajon, and Bay Area residents Mohammed Mustafa and Abdul Janah. Authorities said Muhibullah Nuristani ran MJ Wireless where his brother worked and was listed as the chief financial officer for Torstin Wireless. The other two are associated with Torstin Wireless, authorities said.
None of the suspects or anyone from the businesses could be reached for comment Friday.
Four search warrants were served in Hayward, one in San Lorenzo, one in San Francisco and two in El Cajon, which involved the participation and coordination of nine law enforcement agencies and to private companies, the release said.
Tegner said in the release that “we are pleased with the results of this investigation. However, these results could have not been achieved without the help of partner agencies throughout the state. We know these fencing operations and the high price they pay for cell phones drive the auto burglary epidemic in the Bay Area. We are hoping these arrests help to lower the crime rate.”
Assisting in the investigation were the Hayward and San Jose police departments, the Alameda County and San Diego County sheriff’s offices, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the Internal Revenue Service, Silicon Valley Regional Computer Forensic Lab and the San Diego Regional Compute Forensic Lab.
The police investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Fremont Police Department’s Investigative Division (General Crimes) at 510-790-6900 or email Detective J. Roberts at Jroberts@fremont.gov. Anonymous tips will also be accepted. To do that text TIP FREMONTPD followed by your message to 888-777, or via the web at https://local.nixle.com/tip/alert/6216337.
Fiona Kelliher contributed to this report.
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