Amazon parcel swap Surat: Five arrested, iPhone and 8TB SSD recovered

The Surat Police have busted a gang accused of tampering with Amazon deliveries by eradicating real, high-value merchandise from parcels and changing them with dummy or low-value gadgets. Five folks, together with 4 supply boys and a supervisor, have been arrested in reference to the racket.

The accused focused high-value merchandise ordered on-line and exploited the supply course of to take away the unique gadgets earlier than the parcels reached prospects. Police mentioned the gang triggered an estimated lack of round Rs 8 lakh to the corporate.

Among the gadgets recovered by the police are an Apple iPhone 17 Pro (1TB) and a SanDisk Extreme 8TB Portable External SSD. Goods price round Rs 3.25 lakh have been recovered up to now, whereas efforts are underway to hint the remaining merchandise.

HOW THE AMAZON DELIVERY SWAP WAS CARRIED OUT

According to the police, the case got here to gentle after a grievance was obtained relating to the tampering of merchandise being delivered by Express Transportation Services Private Limited, an Amazon supply companion.

The grievance was filed by Mayur Bhimrao Shinde, a Legal Associate Manager with the corporate. The firm knowledgeable police that real merchandise have been being eliminated in the course of the supply course of and changed with dummy or low-value items.

The accused lower open parcel seals fastidiously, eliminated the unique merchandise and changed them with substitute gadgets earlier than processing the packages by way of the corporate’s system as if they contained the unique items.

The fraud got here to gentle when prospects returned the merchandise and the codes and serial numbers didn’t match the main points of the unique gadgets. Amazon subsequently rejected such returns after detecting the discrepancies.

POLICE CRACKED THE CASE AFTER WAREHOUSE COMPLAINT

Police Inspector B.A. Bhatt mentioned the police have been contacted on August 20 by the supervisor of an Intex Transportation warehouse of their jurisdiction. The facility handles Amazon shipments, and the supervisor suspected that merchandise have been being swapped in the course of the supply course of.

Police sought particulars of the merchandise dispatched by Amazon, together with their identification numbers, in addition to details about the substitute merchandise obtained by prospects.

The supervisor later arrived from Pune with the related particulars, following which the police started an in depth investigation into the suspected supply fraud.

Based on the knowledge gathered in the course of the probe, police recognized 5 suspects as being a part of the operation.

FIVE ACCUSED ARRESTED

The arrested accused have been recognized as Jay Babubhai Nihal, Nikhil Pravinbhai Mordia, Vivek Rohit Mangilal Khatik, Vikas Mangilal Khatik and Neeraj Ramkrishna Kushwaha.

Police mentioned the accused included 4 Amazon supply boys and a supervisor.

During the investigation, police obtained info that prime suspect Jai Babulal Viras was current within the Katargam space. He was apprehended and questioned, following which police mentioned the broader community and the involvement of his accomplices got here to gentle.

IPHONE, 8TB SSD AMONG GOODS RECOVERED

During the investigation, police recovered an Apple iPhone 17 Pro with 1TB storage and a SanDisk Extreme 8TB Portable External SSD from the prime suspect.

Police mentioned the recovered items are price round Rs 3.25 lakh in complete. The 8TB transportable laborious disk alone is valued at roughly Rs 1.25 lakh.

According to the police, the 5 accused had collectively defrauded the corporate of roughly Rs 8 lakh. The police are persevering with efforts to recuperate the remaining items.

PROBE UNDERWAY TO FIND FULL EXTENT OF RACKET

Police suspect that the accused might have carried out comparable frauds involving different merchandise previously. The investigation is now centered on establishing the entire variety of Amazon orders that have been tampered with, figuring out the variety of high-value merchandise changed and figuring out whether or not extra folks have been concerned.

Police are questioning the arrested accused to ascertain the complete extent of the racket and hint the remaining stolen items.

– Ends

With inputs from Sanjay Singh Rathod