The Delhi Police have recovered 900 iPhone 5s units from a gang of robbers who stole the consignment on September 13. They also have taken an Ecco car used to execute the robbery into custody. The retrieved goods are estimated to be worth around Rs 2.25 crores.
The iPhones were recovered after arresting Mehtab Alam and Arman, both residents of Manipalpur. The two had attacked a truck carrying a consignment of the devices near the Rajokari flyover. It was heading to the Dwarka area in New Delhi from Okhla.
The duo injured the driver and forcefully took him to an unknown place, where they stole around 1000 iPhones from the truck. The robbers then dumped the driver at the underpass of Dwarka Link Road and fled with the goods. One of the two was arrested in Rangpuri, while the other was taken into custody in Mahipalpur.
During the investigation, it was found that the accused were helped in the theft by Bhola and Pradeep who were formerly employees of the transportation company to which the truck belonged. The police learned that the pair had left their jobs two weeks ago and had driven along the same route as the looted motor vehicle on the day of the heist.
The associates of Mehtab Alam and Arman are yet to be arrested though the two have confessed the names. The police are investigating the matter further and are conducting raids to trace the rest of the accused. In a previous incident, a Flipkart delivery boy managed to steal at least 12 iPhones by placing orders on the site for the handset while using a fake address.
He exchanged the phones with fake China models and kept the original ones himself. He was arrested after nearly a month of conning the ecommerce website.