2 weeks Ago
Chennai: A gang carried out a filmi-style heist of three containers with 5,230 Dell laptops and notepads, worth more than 35 crore, using forged documents , but was busted as the gadgets had inbuilt GPS location tracker. So far, five suspects have been arrested and 5,207 gadgets recovered. Key suspects have gone underground and a hunt is on for them.
The arrested men T Muthuraj, 46, of Nilakottai near Dindigul; K Rajesh, 39; N Napolean, 46; A Sivabalan, 44, all residents of Thiruvottiyur; S Paulraj, 31, of Old Nappalayam; and G Manikandan, 31, of Tiruvallur were later sent to jail. Police said the containers, carrying Dell notepads and laptops, from Shanghai port in China, arrived at Chennai port on Sept 6. They were then shifted to Chennai International Terminals Private Limited (CITPL) inside the harbour.
The theft of three containers using forged papers came to light on Sept 11, when a Dell official went to the CITPL yard to take possession of the containers and take them to Bengaluru. He was shocked when told that the container had already been taken by a person who submitted ‘relevant documents'. After information from the in-charge official in Chennai, the Dell officials in China complained to CITPL and questioned how the container could be taken away using forged documents.
Based on a complaint on Sept 13 by CITPL operations manager Pon Isakkiappan, the harbour police began tracing the missing container and the valuables. An investigation officer said each notepad and laptop cost 80,000 to 1 lakh. The police team, led by assistant commissioner of police Rajasekaran, scanned CCTV camera footage, identified the culprits and began trailing them.
Dell officials too shared the location of the missing gadgets by tracking the GPS live connection. Harbour inspector Silambu Selvan rushed to Manavala Nagar near Tiruvallur and rounded up the two containers. His team apprehended the six suspects.
Further investigation revealed that another smuggled container was at Nilakottai near Dindigul. A team has gone there to bring it to Chennai. A police officer said absconded suspect Ilavarasan played a key role in the heist.
"He prepared the fake documents with the help of another accused, Vicky, and gave them to container driver Muthuraj. Ilavarasan, a clearance manager at CITPL, allowed the container out on Sept 9. The incident came to light two days later, when the original truck driver assigned by Dell visited CITPL yard.
.
