NEW DELHI: Four men, including a courier boy, were arrested for stealing 385 mobile phones worth around Rs 30 lakh from central Delhi’s Karol Bagh area.
A Bihar-based mobile shop owner ordered the phones from Karol Bagh and the accused changed the items inside the parcels before sending them via train.
Police said they have recovered 376 mobile phones and efforts are being made to recover the remaining.
A case was filed on Saturday regarding the theft of four parcels of mobile phones worth around Rs 30 lakh, a senior police officer said.
The complainant, a mobile phone trader from Siwan in Bihar, stated that he had been running a mobile shop for the last 8 to 10 years. He ordered 385 new mobile phones from wholesalers in Karol Bagh on August 31.
The complainant booked the consignment through a courier service and the wholesaler handed over the four parcels to Abhishek Singh, a courier driver, for transportation in an e-rickshaw to New Delhi Railway Station for dispatch by Vaishali Express.
When the complainant received the consignment in Siwan, he opened it and found that instead of mobile phones, the parcels contained only cardboard and waste paper.
Police traced the CCTV footage and identified the accused.
Later, a tip-off was received on Saturday, following which a raid was conducted at Beadonpura and Vikas Singh and his brother Abhishek Singh, who were involved in the courier parcel theft, were arrested, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan said.
Their houses were searched and an e-rickshaw carrying six boxes containing 376 stolen mobile phones was recovered. Vikas revealed that he worked as an e-rickshaw driver in Karol Bagh, while his elder brother Abhishek works as a driver with the courier service. Facing financial distress, Vikas conspired with his friend Kishan Chauhan to steal valuable courier parcels.
They prepared four fake parcels stuffed with waste material. On August 31, they executed the theft near Jhandewalan.
Using a duplicate key, Vikas unlocked the courier vehicle being driven by Abhishek, swapped the genuine consignments with the fake parcels, and loaded the originals into his own e-rickshaw with the help of Kishan and another accomplice.
They transported the stolen parcels to a hideout in Karol Bagh, where they opened and repacked the four parcels into six boxes containing 385 mobile phones. Out of these, nine phones were taken away by Kishan, while the rest were seized.
Later, a raid was conducted in which Kishan and his associate Chetan Jha were nabbed, Valsan added.