In a highway robbery, 2,442 smartphones worth around ₹ 2 crore were stolen from a container truck which was parked at a roadside dhaba at Masaipet in Medak district on September 16. However, the incident came to light only on Tuesday.
According to police, the driver Srinivas noticed the tampering of the truck only after he had cruised for another 250 kilometres when he stopped the vehicle for refuelling.
“After having dinner at the dhaba, the driver halted the vehicle only at Ichoda in Adilabad district in the wee hours of September 17 for refilling the fuel tank, where he noticed that the container’s door was tampered and the stock was missing,” Medak Superintendent of Police G. Chandana Deepti said.
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Soon, Srinvas informed his superiors at the transport company, who advised him to go back to Masaipet dhada, inquired and lodged a complaint with Chegunta police.
The container was loaded at Sri City in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh on the morning of September 16 and was on its way to Uttar Pradesh when the incident took place.
It was loaded with Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 9 Pro of different configuration, she said. Ms. Chandana Deepti said that only 20 % of the consignment was stolen.
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“As Srinivas stopped the vehicle only at Masaipet, he suspected the burglary took place there,” she said.
Based on the driver’s complaint, a case was registered and teams were formed to identify and nab the highway burglars,
“Though there were CCTV cameras at the dhaba, there were so many vehicles parked and we are unable to trace them,” an official said.
Similar highway burglaries took place in Chitttor and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh on August 26 and September 17, respectively.
There the gang made away with a consignment of about 7,500 mobiles of Xiaomi brand worth about ₹6 crore in Chittoor and similar brand smart phones worth ₹ 80 lakh in Guntur.