Man steals phones from shops with wife, arrested

G Aarun, an interior decorator and resident of Karumari Amman Nagar in Nerkundram admitted to the police that he would take his wife and visit phone stores, posing as buyers and ask for high-end phones. They would choose busy hours when the stores are crowded and salespeople are easily distracted.

Aarun said to the Arumbakkam police that after showing interest in a phone as the salesperson would look away to tend to another customer, he would put the phone away in his bag, leave the box out while telling the salesperson that he would buy the phone later. This way, the couple easily fooled the salesperson into thinking that the phone was still in its box.

Aarun has been using this modus operandi to steal from shops for months and had stolen five high-end phones in the last three months.

“After stealing the phones, he would later sell them at Ritchie street for half its price,” the police said.

A mobile phone shop manager who lost a phone worth Rs 65,000 to Aarun identified him from the CCTV footage at his shop and circulated it to other branches of the retail chain. The couple was caught when they visited a shop in Arumbakkam and was handed over to the police.

During investigation, Aarun told the police that he works as an interior decorator and resorted to mobile phone thefts as he was not getting sufficient amount of work.