IGI Airport ground handling staff held for theft of mobile phones from shipment

According to the police, the theft was detected on January 27, when one of the four boxes containing mobile phones shipped by Skywiz Cargo Services from its Noida warehouse was found missing upon arrival at Indore. The box contained 75 mobile phones from a consignment of 280 high-end phones, the police said.

The police said an investigation is underway to locate the remaining accused and seize the remaining devices.

“Technical surveillance of the stolen mobile phones led to the discovery that some mobile phones were activated. The phones’ owners, on examination, revealed that the phones were purchased from one Suman Kumar, a mobile dealer from East Patel Nagar,” said Usha Rangnani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), IGI.

The officer said that Suman, during interrogation, revealed that he had purchased 27 stolen mobile phones from one Arun Sharma for Rs 26.54 lakh in a sealed and packed condition. “He further told the police that those mobile phones were later returned by customers due to the absence of the bills. On the instance of Suman Kumar, recovery of 27 stolen mobile phones were affected from his shop,” DCP Rangnani said.

When Arun Sharma was traced from Ghaziabad, he revealed he had bought the phones from a person named Sahil, who remains at large, the police said.

During technical surveillance on other phones, the investigators found that another shopkeeper, Chintu, from Farrukh Nagar in Gurgaon, had purchased two stolen phones from Nikhil Kumar.

“During interrogation, Nikhil Kumar confessed to his involvement in the theft and revealed that he was working as a loader at IGI Airport with Air India SATS company for the past two years. Kumar disclosed that when he saw the shipment of four master PVC boxes containing 280 Samsung S-25 Ultra mobile phones, he was overcome by greed,” said DCP Rangnani.

The DCP said that when the shipment was placed in a BT container and stored at an isolated parking area at night, Kumar stole one PVC box containing 75 mobile phones and hid them in an old, unused container at the airport.

“He later removed them in installments at his convenience. He also revealed that he had sold 55 stolen mobile phones to his friend Sahil for sale and sold two stolen phones to a shopkeeper named Chintu for Rs 2 lakh,” the DCP said.

The police at IGI Airport station have registered a case on February 6 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 305 (theft in a dwelling house, or means of transportation or place of worship, etc.) and 317(2) (stolen property).