The Delhi Police has arrested a 28-year-old ground handling employee, Monu alias Nikhil Kumar, for allegedly stealing a shipment of high-end smartphones worth lakhs of rupees. The authorities have recovered 36 of the stolen mobile phones so far, according to an official statement.
The case was uncovered after Sanjay Yadav, head of sales and marketing at a cargo services company, filed an e-FIR on February 6. The company had dispatched four PVC boxes containing 280 smartphones from their Noida Phase II warehouse to a store in Indore on January 27. However, upon arrival, one of the boxes containing 75 phones was found missing.
A special team was formed to investigate the theft. Although CCTV footage from the airport’s cargo loading and storage areas was scrutinized, no immediate leads were found. The investigation then shifted to technical surveillance, where stolen devices were traced to buyers who had unknowingly purchased them from a mobile dealer named Suman Kumar in East Patel Nagar.
Upon questioning, Suman Kumar revealed that he had bought 27 phones from another dealer, Arun Sharma, for over Rs26 lakh. As customers began returning the devices to Suman due to the lack of invoices, he returned the phones to Arun Sharma. Further investigation led to Arun Sharma, based in Noida, who admitted to purchasing 34 stolen phones from one Sahil in Mathura. Of these, 27 had already been sold to Suman, while the remaining 7 were recovered.
The investigation continues, and Sahil remains at large.
