The robbery, which occurred in a deserted area in southeastern Delhi, targeted a truck that was on its way to a Samsung factory in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. According to a report from the Indian Express, the assailants believed that the vehicle contained a bunch of Samsung’s new flagship smartphones.
However, the perpetrators, led by a former employee of the company that was transporting the cargo, apparently got the dates wrong, and instead got away with a haul of “components including integrated circuits, chips, and motherboards.” Some of the parts may have been earmarked for the assembly of Galaxy S6 units in the Uttar Pradesh factory.
While the haul is a lot less exciting than a truckload of Galaxy S6 devices, it was profitable nonetheless. The contents of the truck were valued at around $4 million.
The hijacked vehicle was said to have been traveling with another truck, but the second vehicle was able to escape after the driver spotted the armed men. The assailants reportedly beat up the driver of the captured truck, then held him at gunpoint. As the robbers drove off with the stolen vehicle, they switched off the vehicle’s GPS system to avoid being traced.
Indian police have since arrested four men in connection with the robbery. The suspects were located in Etah, a city in Uttar Pradesh. The mastermind of the heist, a man named Promod, not only knew about Samsung’s delivery schedule, he was also familiar with the company’s driving routes. Local police told the Indian Express that the perpetrators didn’t even have time to inspect their loot.
“When the container was recovered, all the components were found to be still packed in boxes,” a source said. Talk about a failed heist.
