“The members of this gang are notorious for their involvement in highway robberies. Special teams have rushed to Madhya Pradesh in search of them. A few other teams are also camping in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as their members were suspected to have gone into hiding there. We have obtained vital clues and are confident of hunting down the culprits within a few days,” said a police officer.

The thieves had followed the container from Chennai, which was bound to Mumbai and intercepted it on Chennai-Bengaluru National Highways in Krishnagiri, where they transferred the mobile phones into their trucks, before fleeing.

Police have found CCTV images of a lorry following the container with mobile phones, but its registration number had turned out to be fake. Further investigations are on.

Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!