The city crime branch seized mobile phones worth over ₹ 69 lakh from two persons on Tuesday. The two arrested accused, Ritesh Kasera, 32, and Vijay Shetty, 40, along with other accomplices robbed a truck laden with mobile phones worth from Kolar in Karnataka and were looking for buyers in the city when the crime branch nabbed them.
According to crime branch officials, they received information that a few people were looking for buyers for a huge quantity of stolen mobile phones. The crime branch unit 7 officials on Tuesday laid a trap at Garudiya Nagar in Ghatkopar and apprehended Kasera and Shetty when they arrived with their truck.
During the search of the truck, 495 brand new mobile phones worth ₹69,29,505 were recovered.
During interrogation, the accused confessed of robbing the phones from Kolar in Karnataka. On August 5, the accused followed a truck loaded with mobile phones as it left a factory at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. When the truck reached a jungle area on Kolar-Bangaluru highway, the accused intercepted the vehicle and robbed 7,000 phones after threatening the truck driver with dire consequences. A team of Karnataka police had failed in its attempt to look for the accused in Madhya Pradesh.
