Po­lice yes­ter­day re­cov­ered ap­prox­i­mate­ly $500,000 in cell­phones and SIM cards be­long­ing to Cel­lu­lar Plan­et at a home along the South­ern Main Road, Cunu­pia.

A 32 year-old Caribbean Air­lines em­ploy­ee, a for­mer em­ploy­ee and cur­rent em­ploy­ee of Servi­sair al­so were ar­rest­ed.

The ar­rests came af­ter North­ern Di­vi­sion po­lice held an ex­er­cise through­out the di­vi­sion which start­ed on Wednes­day and end­ed yes­ter­day.

The ex­er­cise was spear­head­ed by ASP Moses, Sankar, Sgt Joseph, of the Arou­ca CID, In­sp Maraj, Sgts Kat­war­roo, Hay­wood and Masquelle and in­clud­ed mem­bers of the North­ern Di­vi­sion Task Force and Crime Pa­trol Unit and CID. It was co-or­di­nat­ed by Snr Supt Abra­ham.

Po­lice said on Wednes­day morn­ing the phones were col­lect­ed by Servi­sair from Cel­lu­lar Plan­et in Chase Vil­lage, Ch­agua­nas, to be trans­port­ed to To­ba­go. How­ev­er, they were dis­cov­ered miss­ing around 2 pm.

Po­lice said they re­ceived in­for­ma­tion and went to a house in Char­lieville where they ar­rest­ed the for­mer Servi­sair em­ploy­ee. The po­lice then went to an­oth­er res­i­dence along the South­ern Main Road, Cunu­pia, where they ar­rest­ed a cur­rent em­ploy­ee. A cou­ple who had the items stashed away were ar­rest­ed soon af­ter.

Po­lice said the Sam­sung S5s, iPhones and oth­ers were each val­ued at be­tween $5,000 and $7,000 and the SIM cards were still in a large pack­age.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors said the Caribbean Air­lines em­ploy­ee re­port­ed­ly con­fessed to the crime.