Highway heist: Gang steals mobile phones worth Rs. 6.39 crore in Chittoor

The gang followed the mobile phones consignment vehicle from its point of origin at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and executed the heist after the vehicle crossed the Andhra Pradesh border and entered Karnataka.

Suresh, the driver of the truck that was emptied by the highway dacoity gang, said he left the Kanchipuram industrial area at around 4 p.m on Friday. He was to deliver the mobile phones consignment load at a godown at Hoskote near Bengaluru.

After crossing into Karnataka around midnight, the truck driver stopped his vehicle to attend nature's call at the Nangili check-post and returned back to the wheel. Moments later, a car that had been following the truck, managed to overtake the truck and brought it to a grinding halt.

Three Hindi-speaking men dragged Suresh out of the truck and took him to an isolated spot about 300 meters away into a nearby farm. They thrashed him severely and later tied him up and plastered his mouth.

The gang unloaded the Rs. 6.39 crore worth of mobile phones from the truck and loaded it into another vehicle near Neralahalli and absconded.

The heist came to light only on Saturday morning after the truck driver, who was moved to safety by some passersby, lodged a complaint with the Mulabagal rural police.

Kolar SP D. Kishore Babu who learned about the robbery rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation. Special teams have been formed to nab the gang.

A similar highway hijack was reported near the Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu border in August last year when a gang of robbers robbed a consignment of 15,000 mobile phones worth approximately Rs. 6 crore.