A loader employed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport has been arrested for allegedly stealing a consignment of 75 branded smartphones worth several lakhs of rupees. The Delhi Police revealed on Tuesday that the accused has been identified as Monu, also known as Nikhil Kumar, aged 28. So far, 36 stolen smartphones have been recovered in the investigation.
The case came to light when Sanjay Yadav, head of sales and marketing at Cargo Services, filed an online complaint on February 6. According to his statement, the company had dispatched four PVC boxes containing 280 smartphones from its Noida Phase 2 warehouse to a retail store in Indore on January 27. However, upon arrival, one box containing 75 phones was found missing.
As per agency report, investigators initially combed through CCTV footage from the cargo loading and storage areas at the airport but failed to find any leads. The breakthrough came when the team began tracking the stolen phones using technical surveillance. Eventually, they discovered that some of the phones had reached buyers who had unknowingly purchased them from a mobile dealer in East Patel Nagar, identified as Suman Kumar.
Upon questioning, Suman revealed that he had acquired 27 smartphones, worth over Rs. 26 lakh, from another dealer, Arun Sharma. According to Additional Commissioner of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani, when customers began returning the phones due to lack of proper invoices, Suman returned the devices to Arun Sharma.
Further inquiry led police to Arun Sharma, who confessed that he had purchased 34 of the stolen phones from a person named Sahil based in Mathura. Of these, he had sold 27 phones to Suman and still had seven in his possession, which were seized by the police. Sahil remains at large, and efforts to trace him are ongoing.
Another stolen phone was found with a buyer in Gurugram, who had purchased it from a local vendor named Chintu. When questioned, Chintu admitted to buying two sealed phones from Nikhil Kumar for Rs. 2 lakh and provided proof of an online transaction. This crucial lead enabled the police to track down and arrest Nikhil.
During interrogation, Nikhil Kumar confessed to the crime. He had been working as a loader for a ground-handling agency at IGI Airport for the past two years. He admitted that he noticed a shipment left unattended in a deserted parking zone and took advantage of the opportunity to steal one of the boxes. Initially, he hid the stolen phones in an old, unused container at the airport and gradually moved them out in small quantities.
Nikhil admitted to selling 55 phones to his associate Sahil and two phones to Chintu. With his arrest, police have recovered 36 devices and continue efforts to apprehend Sahil and retrieve the remaining smartphones.
The investigation is still underway, according to the police.
