Andhra Pradesh police have nabbed two men in connection with the theft of electronic gadgets worth Rs 1.58 crore from a container lorry that was enroute Chennai. The accused were identified as Salman Mansoor Ahamed and Mohammad Rehaman Shareed, both natives of Bengaluru.
Revealing details of the investigation, Kadapa district superintendent of police (SP) KKN Anburajan said, “On October 30, we received a complaint from Blue Dart courier company and their security agency that electronic gadgets worth Rs 1.68 crore were stolen by their driver. A case was registered and four teams were set up to investigate the case. Based on the CCTV footage collected and through our investigation, we found that the goods were stolen by people who came in vehicles to where the lorry had halted.”
“Four teams were sent to Kerala, Karnataka and to Haryana to trace the thieves. Cyber teams were also working with us as part of the investigation. Two persons have now been arrested, the stolen gadgets recovered and two vehicles also seized,” the SP added.
The container lorry loaded with the electronic gadgets started from Delhi on October 19 and reached the warehouse in Hyderabad on October 23. The consignment was then dispatched to Chennai. In the morning on October 23, the vehicle stopped at a dhaba located within the limits of the Chinnachowk police station. It was found during the investigation that the driver had been in touch with an inter-state robbery gang. The thieves reached the dhaba and unloaded the consignment and then loaded it onto their vehicles. Two vehicles then headed towards Kerala and Karnataka.
Upon checking CCTV footage at toll plazas, the police realised that an SUV had tailed the container lorry. They saw that the lorry took an unusually long time to cross the next toll plaza. This led the police to suspect the SUV’s role in the theft. They then deployed teams to travel to Kerala and Karnataka to nab the accused who were escaping with the consignments. “When they realised that the police were after them, they tried to flee. With the help of the cyber teams, we have been able to trace and nab them. We have recovered gadgets worth Rs 1.58 crore. The consignment consisted of cell phones and laptops,” said the SP.
According to the police, the accused confessed to the role of six others in the crime, including the lorry driver, helper and four conspirators, who are still at large. The police recovered 1557 RedMi mobile phones, three apple iPhone 14 mobile phones, five laptops and 193 blue tooth ear pieces.