Men break shops’ shutters, flee with 600 smartphones in Ghaziabad

Police said the men uprooted the shutters of two shops by tying one end of a rope to the shutter handles and the other to their car, and accelerating. The two shops are located about 40-50 yards away from the local police post

A group of men stole about 600 smartphones and the recording device of a CCTV camera from two shops in Navyug Market in Ghaziabad early Wednesday morning.

A view of one of the stores that was robbed in Navyug Market in Ghaziabad. A PCR van was on night duty and crossed the two shops at least 10 minutes before the thieves arrived. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Police said the incident came to light on Wednesday morning when locals spotted the broken shutters of the two adjacent shops.

Sumit Tyagi, the owner of the two shops said the thieves could only take the recording device of a CCTV camera away from one of the shops.

“On the CCTV of the other shop, we saw that five or six men arrived at the shops in a Brezza car around 3.40am on Wednesday. The group tried to break into four shops in the market, but they could only break the iron shutters of my two shops,” Tyagi added.

Police said the men uprooted the shutters by tying one end of a rope to the shutter handles and the other to their car, and accelerating.

Tyagi said that the men took 15-20 minutes to gather the smartphones and the recording device.

“My employees are preparing an estimate of the loss, but it is expected that they fled with about 600 new smartphones and the loss is expected to be in range of ₹60-70 lakhs,” he added.

The two shops are located about 40-50 yards away from the local police post.

“Our PCR van was on night duty and crossed the two shops at least 10 minutes before the thieves arrived. We have registered an FIR for theft and are trying to trace gangs with similar modus operandi. Several teams have been formed to trace the perpetrators,” said Nipun Agarwal, superintendent of police (City 1).

Police officers familiar with the investigation said that the incident could be the handywork of some Mewati gang.

Navyug Market is a prime commercial area in Ghaziabad city and also has residential houses.

There are several banks, restaurants, retail brand outlets and other commercial and business establishments in the area. The headquarters of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation is also located in Navyug Market.