Mumbai courier boy who stole 150 mobile phones arrested

He used to deliver mobile phones discarded by online websites like Amazon and Flipkart back to the wholesale shop

The MIDC police on Monday arrested a courier boy for stealing 150 mobile phones of various brands worth Rs.13,52,283.

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The accused, identified as Abdul Salam Abdul Momin Shaikh, 24, worked as a courier boy in Gati Courier Company located at Andheri (East) and used to deliver mobile phones discarded by online websites like Amazon and Flipkart back to the wholesale shop, Hardtrac Services. Hardtrac Services used to supply mobile phones to online websites like Amazon and Flipkart. The complainant, Vimal Maheshchandra Zaveri, 50, is the director of Hardtrac Services.

According to sub-inspector Dhavan, “Online websites like Amazon and Flipkart had a contract with the courier company through which they used to send back discarded mobile phones to the wholesale company Hardtrac services. The wholesale company then used to send all the mobile phones back to their original companies. The accused started stealing one or two phones at each delivery back to the wholesaler and realised that nobody noticed the missing mobile phones. By the time Hardtrac Services realised that several phones were missing, it was too late.”

“It was a huge negligence on the part of the wholesaler that they failed to keep a check on the discarded pieces. Abdul took advantage of this, and succeeded in stealing such a large number of mobile phones,” he added.

“The accused fled the city as soon as he came to know that an FIR was registered against him. We tried tracing his mobile number, but to no avail. We then interrogated his family in Saki Naka, where he stays, and came to know that he had gone to his native place in Uttar Pradesh. We tried tracing him in Uttar Pradesh but we couldn’t get to him. After looking out for him for quite some days, we received a tip-off that he was back in the city at Saki Naka,” said a police official.

A team led by senior police inspector Pasalwar, crime police inspector Devre, sub-inspectors Dhavan and Lokre nabbed Abdul from Saki Naka on Monday at around 5pm.

“We suspect that there may be more people involved; we are investigating that angle too,” he said.

Abdul has been booked under the sections of 120B and 379 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and is in police custody till 29th July.