A 60-year-old Uzbek woman was arrested by police at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for allegedly stealing three luxury handbags from the baggage belt, an official said on Monday.
The luxury handbags, stolen by the accused, Mayramkan Karabasheva Alibaevna from a passenger’s luggage, Usha Rangnani, were quite expensive, Additional Commissioner of Police, said.
“A complaint was filed at the IGI Airport police station by Ishita Khullar, from Gurugram, alleging that three handbags were missing from her luggage bag,” the officer mentioned.
“While collecting my luggage from the conveyor belt at Terminal 3 Airport, I could not find three bags that I got from Kuala Lumpur Airport,” the complainant reportedly said in her statement.
“Suspecting theft, I approached the airport authorities, and eventually lodged a complaint,” the victim added to her complaint.
As part of the preliminary investigation, CCTV footage from multiple points of Terminal 3 was scanned before spotting a foreigner picking up Khullar’s handbag from the conveyor belt before hurriedly leaving the terminal.
The footage showed her boarding a cab from the departure area, the senior officer mentioned.
“Police traced the cab and identified the drop-off point as Paharganj. The accused was later identified through hotel guest records as Mayramkan Karabasheva,” said the Additional CP.
She tried to flee the country, but the officers issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) leading to her eventual interception by the officers on July 18.
“During interrogation, she confessed to the crime, revealing that she frequently travels to India for her garment business and had been driven by greed to steal the valuable handbags,” the officer added.
The three stolen bags were recovered from a hotel room in Paharganj, where one of her relatives was staying.