BENGALURU: The Attibele police have arrested three people who had stolen 1,558 pairs of footwear of a popular global brand worth lakhs from the company godown in Shettyhalli in Anekal taluk. The arrested are Subhan Pasha (30), Mansar Ali (26) and Shahidul Rehmal (26) of Assam and the police are on the lookout for four more people involved in the theft.
According to the police, the accused would join work as labourers at the godowns of popular brands and would steal footwear and garments of after working for about a week or two.
Accordingly, one of the missing accused, Saleh Ahmed Lashkar, had joined work at the Nike godown near Shettyhalli in Anekal. He hijacked a truck loaded with Nike shoes meant to be transported to the Myntra godown on Soukya Road in Anugondanahalli and offloaded the consignment at a room at Razak Palya in Benglauru. He took money for the stolen goods and abandoned the Eicher truck at Tarabanahalli in Chikkajala.
When the GPS location of the truck was tracked to Chikkajala, a complaint was lodged with the police who arrested three people and recovered most of the stolen pairs of footwear.
Bengaluru Rural SP Mallikarjun Baladandi said, “On December 21, 2023, 1,558 pairs of Nike shoes packed in boxes were loaded on to the truck to be transported to the Myntra godown and it was supposed to have reached by 9 pm that day. When it did not, the truck owners tracked the GPS and found it abandoned near Chikkajala, but the consignment and the driver were missing and his phone too was switched off”.
Further, the SP said a special team was formed to crack the case. “Four of the accused hail from Assam and two are locals. The main accused would arrange drivers for truck and containers. Saleh Ahmed drove the truck to some place near the Myntra godown and then switched off him mobile phone. He then took the truck to Razak Palya where the boxes of shoes were unloaded. The vehicle was abandoned near Chikkajala. The main accused and the driver are missing and we will arrest the missing accused soon”.
The main accused was similarly involved in a shipment theft of branded clothes in 2022 and had been arrested in the case. Another of the accused too was involved in similar crimes, the SP added.