US: Two girl students from AP, Telangana arrested for shoplifting; video goes viral

New Jersey: Two Indian students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana studying in New Jersey, USA were arrested for alleged shoplifting.

While the incident happened on March 19, the videos of the girls, aged 20 and 21, being arrested by the Hoboken police department went viral.

While one student is from Hyderabad, another one is from Guntur. They were apprehended after Hoboken ShopRite alerted the police. Both are graduate students at Stevens Institute of Technology.

According to the reports, the girls reportedly did not pay for certain items. They paid for only 2 out of 29 items they took, totaling $155. In the video, one of the girls said that they would pay double for what they hadn't paid before; while the other pleaded they wouldn't repeat it and asked to be let off.

They went on arguing with the cops and asked to leave them for this time. When the cops asked why they hadn’t paid for some items, one of them explained that she had a “limited balance” in her account while the other said that they had simply forgotten.

Despite their pleas, they were arrested by the Hoboken City Police on shoplifting charges and were asked to give a written confirmation that they would not visit the shop in the future.

Bodycam footage released by the Hoboken Police shows the girls asking: “Will this affect us for the H-1B process or Job.” The officer replied: “Yes! If they run your information, it’s going to show that you were arrested.”