Samsung goods worth 25 crores robbed in New Delhi and found sooner by Police

Marine Cargo insurance deals with insuring goods in transit from place to place – depending upon the mode of transit, the insuring clauses will differ.  In India, the transits within the Country  are subjected to Inland Transit (A) or (B) clauses.  The Policies are subjected to ‘Limit per bottom’ and ‘limit per location’ – which constrains the maximum liability of Insurer in respect of any loss or damage. 

Container truck photo illustrative purpose only.

*        Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear. Precise definitions of the offence may vary between jurisdictions

*        Hijack:  to steal (cargo) from a truck or other vehicle after forcing it to stop; to rob (a vehicle) after forcing it to stop:to seize (a vehicle) by force or threat of force.

*        Non-delivery : neglect, failure, or refusal to deliver goods, on the part of a carrier, vendor, bailee, etc.

This morning read the news that in Delhi in the midnight of April 1 2015, a  group of robbers made off with a truck containing electronic goods worth Rs 25 crore in reportedly the  biggest such heist in the city.  It is reported that the truck, carrying electronic goods and machine parts from Samsung, was on its way from Indira Gandhi airport to Noida. As it reached Sarita Vihar in South Delhi, it was intercepted and stopped by a car, said police sources. Armed men got out of the car and beat up the driver and the helper.  Then they disabled the GPS locator of the truck and drove it off. 

After reading this on web – searches revealed [Times of India and Indian Express] that a group of four men carried out the biggest heist – the Police have been quick in nabbing them.  It is reported that the  hijackers were bitterly disappointed with the booty. What they believed was a truck laden with the latest Samsung S-6 mobile phones turned out to be transporting motherboards and integrated circuits of phones, police sources said.

The robbery would have caused Samsung a loss of roughly Rs 200 crore as mobile phone shipments worth that much would have been held up due to these missing parts, sources said. But before the robbers could dispose of the booty, cops busted their hideout in west Uttar Pradesh and arrested the men on Thursday. A Samsung spokesperson said, "The company deeply appreciates the efforts of the police and government in this matter."

The men, aided by an insider, had struck with precision. The truck was intercepted at Kalindi Kunj, near the Noida border, while it was on way from the IGI Airport to the company's warehouse in Noida. The drama took place a little past midnight in Kalinidi Kunj area of southeast Delhi. The truck's driver  works for a transport company named A to Z, which is attached to Samsung, police said.

According to Police reports, the driver reportedly told that he had started off along with another truck from IGI airport around 11.30pm. When the container reached Kalkaji, a white Santro car tried to overtake and stop it. Sensing danger, the driver tried to move fast but the car succeeded in intercepting the truck near Kalindi Kunj and two of the occupants stormed in. They held  the driver hostage, assaulted him and started driving the truck towards UP. Within minutes, they threw the driver out. The second truck arrived at the spot and the driver of the hijacked vehicle used the other driver's mobile to inform the police, after which DCP (southeast) Mandeep Randhawa and SHO (Sarita Vihar) Maninder Singh rushed to the spot.

"Our teams checked for the GPS locations of the truck but found it disabled. This indicated the robbers were familiar with the truck having a GPS unit and an insider's role seemed certain," Randhawa said.  This was when inspector Singh noticed Sarvesh, the driver of the second truck, behaving suspiciously and seeking permission to leave. The cops checked his last dialed and received calls list and questioned him about two of the suspicious numbers.  His call details records (CDR) was obtained which showed the location of the two of the numbers at the scene of crime and also on the route taken by the trucks from the airport. Sarvesh was interrogated at length during which he broke down and confessed that he had tipped off the robbers. He gave out the details of his associates using which the other three suspects were apprehended and the truck recovered from Etah in Uttar Pradesh.

During interrogation, Sarvesh told cops that he suspected that the company was transporting expensive mobile phones - which were to be launched soon - and thus hatched the plan with his associates. He then roped in Pramod Kumar, an ex-employee of the transport company. Special commissioner (law and order) Deepak Mishra confirmed the case had been cracked. Sources said that the other suspects have been identified as Pramod Yadav and Vinod Yadav, who belonged to Kasganj near Etah in Uttar Pradesh, a source said. An FIR under section 392 (robbery) has been registered.  

During the questioning of the assailants, it was found that Promod, the alleged mastermind, is a former employee of the company which was transporting the cargo. The cargo company had reportedly been working for Samsung for the past two years.

According to sources, the accused did not get enough time to open the container and sell off the goods. “When the container was recovered, all the components were found to be still packed in boxes,” police said.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

3^rd April 2015 @ 8 am.