New Delhi : Police at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport busted a gang of four operating a theft racket inside the cargo area of the airport, on Saturday.

The police recovered 17 high-end Samsung Galaxy mobile phones and 10 smartwatches.

An E-FIR was registered at PS IGI Airport on Wednesday. The complaint alleged that 19 Mobile phones (Samsung Galaxy 22 and Samsung Galaxy 22 Plus) have been stolen from their Consignment which was bound to be exported to Dubai.

According to the police, the phones were stolen by pilfering the consignment from the Cargo Area, IGI Airport, New Delhi. Hence, the present case was registered and investigation was taken up.

“The stolen mobile phones were put on regular surveillance and they were continuously monitored for a few days, and few of the mobile phones became active and were traced and it was revealed that mobile phones were sold to different customers from one shop in Mahipalpur i.e Khushi Communications. The proprietor of Khushi Communications namely Vivek was subsequently apprehended. He was interrogated and arrested in the present case,” Police said in a statement.

On sustained interrogation it was disclosed that the accused had purchased 5 brand new Samsung Galaxy mobile phones at throwaway prices from a CISF official who was performing his duty in the Cargo area and resides near his shop in Mahipalpur.

The police then traced and arrested the CISF official. The CISF official has been identified as Brijpal Singh.

“1 stolen mobile phone was recovered from his possession which he was using for his personal use. He was interrogated and he disclosed that he was in touch with two loaders who were working at a logistics company namely Delhi Cargo Service Centre (DCSC) in Cargo area of the Airport. He knew them since the past 2-3 years. A few days back they approached him and told him that they have stolen many high-end mobile phones from Cargo and wanted want to sell them. He took 6 mobiles from them and further sold 5 mobiles to Vivek for Rs. 25,000 each,” Police said in a statement.

During further course of investigation both the co-accused loaders Aswani Kumar and Rakesh were arrested from Mahipalpur and interrogated.

“They disclosed that both had committed the theft of 19 mobile phones by pilfering a consignment that was to be exported to Dubai. This theft was done in connivance with one ASI of CISF i.e. the co-accused Brijpal Singh, posted at Cargo, IGI Airport, New Delhi. They stated that they had sold 6 mobile phones to Brijpal Singh and had handed over the remaining mobile phones to their colleagues so that they can be sold later,” said Police.

Further the police recovered 11 mobile phones in the possession of their 7 colleagues who are also working in the same cargo company i.e Delhi Cargo Service Centre (DCSC). During search proceedings at the residence of accused Rakesh, 10 Smart watches were also recovered.