New Delhi, February 9 The Delhi Police has busted an organized e-commerce theft racket involving staff from online platforms, recovering 152 women's purses from a well-known international brand, worth approximately Rs 4 lakh, an official said on Monday.
The case came to light after the owner and manufacturer of the international purse brand reported continuous thefts from his warehouse in the Nabi Karim area over the past month, he said.
An e-FIR was registered on February 6, following which a special investigation team was constituted to probe the matter.
Initial questioning of warehouse staff, including the manager, did not yield any significant leads. The police then shifted their focus to technical surveillance, analyzing more than 100 social media accounts suspected of selling branded women's purses online. During the investigation, investigators identified one social media page offering branded purses at unusually low prices, raising suspicion about the source of the merchandise.
"To verify the lead, the police deployed a decoy customer who placed an order for 50 branded women's purses using the contact details available on the page. After the delivery location was finalized, the decoy was briefed and sent to the spot," the officer said.
When the stock was produced at the designated location, a raid was conducted, leading to the seizure of 152 branded purses and the arrest of Sat Prakash, who was allegedly selling the stolen goods. The recovery was made on February 7.
"During interrogation, Prakash disclosed that the pickup boys working with major e-commerce platforms were systematically stealing purses while lifting bulk consignments from the warehouse. He told investigators that two to three purses were removed from each bundle, enabling the group to accumulate 15 to 20 purses daily over several months," the officer said.
He further revealed, according to police, that items from cancelled orders were also stolen instead of being returned to the warehouse. Based on this information, two pickup boys were identified and arrested from the Nabi Karim area.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Santosh and Rahul, both employed as pickup staff with an e-commerce company. Police said further investigation is underway.