A batch of 1,560 Lenovo laptops and desktop computers has gone missing from a container lorry that was engaged to transport them from Chennai port to a warehouse on Manjambakkam Road in Madhavaram.
The vehicle was found abandoned in Alamathi on the Red Hills–Tiruvallur High Road and its driver is absconding. Officials suspect the involvement of a gang.
This container lorry was one of three that were transporting a consignment of 6,120 laptops and desktops worth Rs 11 crore, received from Shanghai in China by sea.
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Police said city-based Indev Logistics Private Limited, signed up by Lenovo for logistics work, had obtained customs clearance for the consignment and was taking it in the lorries to a warehouse run by Shankar India Warehouse company, a Lenovo distributor.
The consignment reached Chennai port at 4.30 a.m on Wednesday. After customs clearance and other paperwork, the first container lorry left the port in the evening. A few hours later, the other two left, and reached the godown at Shankar India Warehouse company on Manjambakkam Road in Madhavaram Milk Colony. “As there was no worker at the warehouse to unload the consignment, we told the drivers of the two lorries to either wait until the next morning or return to the port. Both drivers had drinks at a local TASMAC shop. After this, one driver decided to stay with his container lorry. The other left with the goods,” said an official with the Indev Logistics Private Limited. On Thursday morning, the warehouse staff alerted the subcontractor about the missing lorry. The latter launched a search and found the vehicle at Red Hills.
Sources in the Indev Logistics said the consignment could not be unloaded manually and needed special ramps, fork-lifts and other equipment. A driver cannot unload the consignment from the 40-feet-long lorry with the help of a cleaner or helper.
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“As the goods are laptops and desktop computers, unloading could have been done only by professionals or people involved in the trade. We have filed a goods missing case with the Madhavaram Milk Colony police,” said an Indev Logistics official.