Samsung employee arrested for stealing 8,474 smartphones

A Samsung employee with disabilities has been arrested for stealing 8,474 smartphones, according to a report from The Investor earlier today.

The man, Lee, had been stealing the handsets from Samsung’s production headquarters in Suwon, South Korea before selling them on to a second-hand phone dealer.

Samsung caught on to the crime after discovering unreleased phones had made their way to Vietnam. Lee is believed to have made approximately 800 million won (~$711,368) from the caper, which lasted for almost two years between December 2014 and November 2016.

Reportedly, Lee had been able to appropriate the phones unnoticed as he was permitted to skip the company’s electronic body scanner when leaving the office — this, due to his use of a wheelchair.

Police said the money he’d acquired had been used to pay off part of a 900 million won (~$800,118) gambling debt.

This isn’t the only criminal activity believed to have taken place at Samsung recently, the company’s boss Lee Jae-yong was indicted in February on charges of bribery, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas.