Indeed. At least for professional criminals. So this approach will just ensnare random innocents, who happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Ed

Indeed. At least for professional criminals. So this approach will just ensnare random innocents, who happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Edit: Upon reflection, it's worse. Being aware of this approach, professional criminals could capture IMEIs in the target area for a while, write some SIMs, and carry some cloned phones during the operation. Then destroy all of those SIMs. So the police will target the people whose phones were cloned.