The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) charged a 22-year-old driver of TashiCell for stealing 20 Samsung mobile phones worth Nu 1.3 million (M).

The driver was accused of stealing 10 Samsung S10 and 10 S10plus mobile phones from the company’s store on April 6. A S10 mobile costs Nu 65,000 and S10plus costsNu 72,000.

According to the charges, the driver sold one of the stolen S10plus phones to a woman for Nu 46,000 by claiming that his uncle, who resides in Germany, sent him the phone.

Police tracked the phone through the IMEI number from the woman.

The driver confided about the stolen cell phones to a friend, who works in a restaurant in town, and made him sell one of the S10 phones. The restaurant worker sold the phone to a shop owner for Nu 45,000, who happened to be a mobile supplier for the company. He asked an employee of TashiCell to sell the phone and she sold it for Nu 65,000.

Police retrieved 16 new mobile phones from the accused.

The company’s lawyer lodged a complaint to police on May 14 and police arrested the driver on May 21 and the restaurant worker on May 22.

OAG charged the driver for violating section 240 of the Penal Code of Bhutan 2004, which states, “ A defendant shall be guilty of the offence of larceny if the defendant takes or moves the property of another person without the owner’s consent and with the intent to deprive the owner of the property or to appropriate the same to the defendant or a third person.”

It stated that in accordance with section 244 of the Penal Code, which states that the offence of larceny should be value-based, the driver’s offence should be graded a third-degree felony.

OAG also charged the restaurant worker for violating section 255 of the Penal Code, which states, “A defendant is guilty of the offence of possession of stolen property, if the defendant purposely receives, retains, or disposes off the property of another person knowing that it has been stolen, or believing that it has been stolen, with the intent to benefit oneself or a third person other than the owner of the property or to impede the recovery of the property by the owner.”

The offence is graded a petty misdemeanor.

OAG also requested the court to order the driver to pay Nu 274,000 to the company for the four mobile phones.

Tashi Dema  

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