Uzbek woman held for stealing luxury handbags

An Uzbek national has been arrested for allegedly stealing three luxury handbags from the baggage belt at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, the police said on Monday.

The accused, identified as 60-year-old Mayramkan Karabasheva Alibaevna, was arrested on Saturday after a Lookout Circular (LOC) was issued against her, according to Additional Commissioner of Police (IGIA) Usha Rangnani.

The action followed a complaint by Gurugram-based Ishita Kullar, who arrived in Delhi from Kuala Lumpur on June 15 and discovered that her newly purchased luxury handbags were missing from the conveyor belt at Terminal 3.

The police said CCTV footage from Terminal 3 showed the accused picking up the complainant’s handbags and leaving the terminal in haste. Additional footage showed her boarding a cab from the airport’s departure area. The cab was traced to Paharganj, and the woman was identified through hotel guest records.

She had checked out the next day and left for Tashkent, prompting the police to issue a LOC due to her foreign nationality and flight risk. She was intercepted by immigration authorities upon her return to Delhi on July 18 and handed over to the police.

“During questioning, the accused confessed to the theft. She said she frequently visited India to procure garments for her business in Uzbekistan and stole the bags after spotting them unattended on the belt,” Rangnani said.

On her instance, all three stolen handbags were recovered from a Paharganj hotel room occupied by one of her relatives.