Uzbekistan woman nabbed for stealing luxury handbags at Delhi airport

NEW DELHI: A 60-year-old woman from Uzbekistan was arrested by the Delhi Police at IGI Airport for allegedly stealing three handbags from the luggage conveyor belt of Terminal-3. The accused, identified as Mayramkan Karabasheva Alibaevna, was intercepted based on a Lookout Circular and confessed to the theft during interrogation.

The complainant alleged in her complaint that on June 15, at approximately 11 pm, she arrived at Terminal 3, IGI Airport, Delhi, from Kuala Lumpur. Upon collecting her baggage, she found that three ladies’ handbags, which she had purchased from Kuala Lumpur Airport, were missing from the luggage conveyor belt. She suspected that the bags had been stolen by some unknown person.

During the investigation, CCTV footage from both inside and outside the IGI Airport Terminal was meticulously reviewed, covering the entire route taken by the complainant — from her entry into the terminal to the baggage claim area. After analysing multiple CCTV cameras within the terminal, it was observed that a foreign national woman was seen deliberately picking up the complainant’s handbags from the luggage conveyor belt. She was then seen hurriedly exiting the terminal premises.

Subsequently, CCTV footage from the terminal’s departure area was examined, where the suspected woman was captured boarding a cab while carrying the stolen handbags. As the continued surveillance analysis led to the identification of the cab’s registration number, ownership details were obtained accordingly.

The registered owner of the cab confirmed that he had dropped the foreign woman in the Paharganj area. Subsequently, enquiries were conducted at various hotels in the vicinity of Paharganj using a still image of the suspect obtained from CCTV footage. After a thorough verification process, the hotel where the suspect had stayed was successfully identified.

Upon reviewing the hotel’s guest records, the suspect was identified as Mayramkan Karabasheva Alibaevna, a national of Uzbekistan. Further enquiry revealed that the suspect had checked out and left the hotel the very next day. As the suspect is a foreign national and poses a significant flight risk, a Lookout Circular was issued against her in connection with the case.

On June 18, information was received that the suspect had been apprehended by Immigration authorities at IGI Airport, Delhi. The suspect was identified as Mayramkan Karabasheva Alibaevna, wife of Gafur Salaev, resident of Sirgali district, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, aged 60 years.

During the sustained interrogation, the accused confessed to her guilt and was subsequently arrested in connection with the case. She disclosed that she frequently travelled to India for her garment business, where she procured garments and sold them in Uzbekistan.

She further disclosed that on June 15, she had arrived at IGI Airport from Tashkent. While waiting for her luggage on the conveyor belt, she noticed three ladies’ handbags that appeared to be valuable. Driven by greed, she picked up the bags and exited the airport premises. She then took a cab to a hotel in Paharganj and, having completed her business activities the next day, returned to Uzbekistan.

All three stolen bags were recovered on her instance from a hotel room in Paharganj where one of her relatives was staying. (ANI)