POLICE in Chennai, the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, have arrested four people in connection with the theft of six air freight pallets containing 314 laptops imported by Hewlet Packard India in February.

Police recovered 92 laptops and seized INR4.7 million (US$106,299) in cash during the arrest.

The Times of India said the thieves - two airport cargo workers employed on a contract basis with AAI cargo and two former air cargo employees - stole the pallets from the AAI godown, and sold the laptops to six electronic outlets for between INR14,000 and INR21,000 per laptop.

"The accused were busy counting the rupee notes in a house in Ambattur when we arrested them," a police spokesman said.

The customs broker had discovered the six pallets were missing during the clearing process, prompting the launch of a police investigation to identify the culprits and return the missing merchandise.