Illegal immigrants were reportedly caught on surveillance video dragging a woman on a New York City street after stealing her phone.

The Daily Mail reported that the horrific clip — which shows the woman sliding along a sidewalk, crashing into a pole, and then lying motionless on the street before the moped that dragged her disappears — shows one example of a larger criminal operation.

The Daily Mail said migrants have stolen property from at least 62 women across the city and that the NYPD arrested three migrants believed to be from Venezuela in a Bronx safe house after executing a search warrant.

Here’s a clip from NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry explaining the broader aspects of the police investigation; a portion of the above surveillance video is included in the clip:

The migrants are expected to be charged with multiple robberies and grand larcenies, and police are looking for more suspects, WABC-TV reported.

The station said detectives believe the suspects snatch phones to access Apple Pay and then use credit cards linked to the phones to purchase items.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban during a Monday news conference called the suspects “ghost criminals” who have no information that police can use to track and that they’ve been running an “extremely sophisticated” operation.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny added in the news conference that those involved in the operation live primarily in the “migrant shelter system.” He also noted that the leader of the criminal enterprise blasts a message via WhatsApp saying he’s “looking for phones” and that the moped riders make $100 per day, and the phone snatchers earn between $300 and $600 per stolen phone. The phones are then brought to the leader’s residence, where a “tech guy” hacks into the phones and accesses the owners’ banking and financial information, Kenny said. The crooks use that information to make purchases, and when accounts are drained, the phones are shipped to Columbia to be reprogrammed, Kenny added.

WABC added that the news of the arrests comes as criticism grows against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg after only one of the migrants believed to have attacked two police officers in Times Square was put behind bars while four others were released without bail.

3 migrants arrested in the Bronx for citywide crime spreeyoutu.be

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