Truckers charged with stealing iPhones

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Two New York truck drivers have been charged with stealing a shipment of 300 iPhones en route to Hong Kong by substituting shredded paper.

Investigators said the plan was concocted after Emanuel Etienne and Jarred Thomas, both of Baldwin, picked up the shipment Jan. 9 at a warehouse in Valley Stream. Lt. John Azzata, a detective with the Nassau County Police, said they stopped at a stationery store and spent $100 on paper.

After removing the phones, valued at $142,500, the truckers allegedly drove the shipment to Cathay Pacific Airlines at Kennedy International Airport. The theft was quickly detected once the boxes were opened in Hong Kong and Etienne and Thomas identified as the last to handle the shipment.

The truckers allegedly received $80,000 for the phones and planned to spend the money to move to Florida. But they quickly found other uses for it.

"We immediately went on a spending spree and we were dumb," one of the suspects allegedly told a detective.

Detectives also arrested Emil Shamailov, who said he had been selling the hot phones on CraigsList. Fifty iPhones had been recovered.