Delhi: 4 held for Rs 30 lakh courier parcel theft, 376 mobile phones recovered

New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) Four men, including a driver from a courier company, have been arrested for stealing over 350 mobile phones worth nearly Rs 30 lakh from a courier parcel belonging to a trader in Karol Bagh, an official said on Monday.

The incident came to light after a mobile phone trader from Siwan, Bihar, lodged an e-FIR at the Karol Bagh Police Station on September 6. The complainant stated that he had ordered 385 new mobile phones from wholesalers in Karol Bagh on August 31. The consignment was booked through a courier and was supposed to be dispatched to Siwan by train, the police said.

"However, when the consignment was delivered in Bihar, the trader discovered that the four parcels contained only cardboard and waste paper instead of mobile phones," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan said.

Hundreds of CCTV cameras across Karol Bagh and Jhandewalan areas were scanned to track the movement of the courier vehicle and an e-rickshaw suspected to have been used in the theft.

Based on CCTV footage and tip-offs from informants, police raided Beadonpura on Saturday and arrested two brothers identified as Abhishek Singh (27), who worked as a courier driver with BHR Courier, and Vikas Singh Tomar (22), an e-rickshaw driver.

During a search of their premises, police recovered an e-rickshaw loaded with six boxes containing 376 stolen mobile phones.

Interrogation revealed that Vikas, facing financial difficulties, allegedly hatched a conspiracy with his friend Kishan Chauhan to steal high-value courier parcels. The accused prepared fake parcels filled with waste material and, on August 31, used a duplicate key to unlock the courier vehicle driven by Abhishek, the police said.

The genuine consignment was swapped with the fake parcels near Jhandewalan and transported in the e-rickshaw to a hideout in Karol Bagh.

"The four parcels were opened, repacked into six boxes and stored. Nine phones were taken away by Kishan while the rest were recovered from the hideout," the officer said.

Police confirmed that sustained technical and manual surveillance led to the arrest of Kishan (20) from Ashoka Pahari, Jhandewalan, and his associate Chetan Jha (28) from Uttam Nagar. Efforts are ongoing to trace any remaining stolen phones and to ascertain if more individuals were involved in the conspiracy.

The e-rickshaw used in the theft has also been seized, police said, adding that further investigation is underway. PTI SSJ SSJ MPL MPL