Nigerian held for theft

Police today arrested a Nigerian national for his alleged involvement in two cases of theft of electronic gadgets in south Delhi.

With the arrest of the accused, Mohammad Ali Awal, aged 27, police claimed to have worked out two cases of thefts reported from Safdarjang Enclave and Mehrauli areas.

Three stolen laptops and other electronic gadgets have also been recovered, said Chinmoy Biswal, additional DCP (South).

On April 9, a case of theft of high-end workstation and laptops along with hard disk and some cash was reported by a resident of Hauz Khas Village, said the officer.

The complainant had stated that he had noticed that his electronic gadgets had gone missing on the intervening night of April 8-9 from his room.
 

A day later, while the local police was searching for clues, the complainant found a CCTV camera installed a couple of buildings away from his own, he said.

The footage was examined and the suspicious movements of a man were noticed, he said.

The man was seen climbing up stairs while holding a cell phone to his ear and simultaneously, casually checking the front door latches of flats to find if they were unlocked.

Police developed suspicion about his involvement in the theft that happened in the building two blocks away.

It was found that a Microsoft account was registered on the stolen workstation and it had been accessed about 24 hours after the theft from a location in Chatarpur Extension, Mehrauli, he said.

While working on the case, police found another CCTV footage which pertained to another theft of a laptop and other electronic articles in Mehrauli.

The suspects in both the footages had close resemblance.

The Chatarpur footage pointed that the suspect had boarded an auto to leave the area early morning, he said.

The auto driver was located and he told police that he had dropped the suspect near Chhatarpur Extension, he said.

The accused, Awal, belongs to Abuja, Nigeria.

He had come to India in 2015 and told police that he is pursuing BBA from Mahatma Gandhi University, Meghalaya through distance learning, Biswal said.