Phones worth ₹15 crore looted from truck

Phones worth ₹15 crore looted from truck

Drivers were attacked by assailants

22/10/2020

DIG Pradip Kumar inspecting the spot where the truck was found. N.Bashkaran

Special Correspondent HOSUR

Mobile phones were looted off a container truck and its drivers attacked in Melumalai, Shoolagiri, during the early hours of Wednesday.

The Mi mobile phones, estimated to be worth ₹15 crore, were looted by a suspected gang from Madhya Pradesh. It is believed that the gang may have carried out similar attacks in districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The consignment, which originated at the Sriperumpudur Industrial Estate, was crossing Shoolagiri when the truck was reportedly stopped on the highway around 2 a.m. The drivers, Arun, 26, and Kumar, 29, were attacked by a gang and tied up. The consignment, which included 15 cartons of 960 mobile phones each, besides a few more phones, was shifted to another vehicle. The gang then fled the spot with the phones.

A total of 14,500 mobile phones are suspected to have been looted. The container, that belonged to DHL courier, was retrieved from the spot.

Speaking to The Hindu, Superintendent of Police Bandi Gangadhar said the truck was stopped by the gang, which is believed to have followed it from its starting point.

Five teams have been set up to trace the consignment.