Police have arrested three suspects accused of stealing 26 Apple iPhones worth more than 147,000 yuan ($23,638) from an electronics store in Yangpu district, local media reported Monday.

Police spent two weeks examining footage from surveillance cameras posted around the city to follow the trio's flight from the store on January 17, eventually tracking them to a hotel on Changzhong Road, according to a report in the Xinmin Evening News.

Two of the suspects, surnamed Zhang and Fu, planned the caper. Because they thought the store had an alarm system, they got in touch with a Jiangsu Province man surnamed Zhu, who said he was good with electronic devices and offered to deal with the alarm system.

The three paid another visit to the store before the theft and found that the store didn't have an alarm system and kept the products in unlocked cabinets.

On the night of the theft, it took Zhang and Fu five minutes to unlock the door and two more to pack up the phones. Zhu stood outside and kept watch.

Zhang and Fu wore gauze masks to hide their faces from surveillance cameras, along with hats and hoodies. Police said the men had some idea of how to prevent police from tracking them. After leaving the store, the three took a taxi to Pudong New Area. They changed taxis once, then walked for a while, then took several buses and another taxi, traveling halfway around the city before finally reaching the hotel.

Police said they spent so much money trying to ensure they couldn't be tracked that they had to sell one of the stolen phones on the street.

After they got to the hotel, they divvied up the devices among themselves. Zhu got six of the iPhones, Fu took eight and Zhang got the rest.

The city's surveillance cameras did not capture the suspects' entire flight that night, said Ge Chunfeng, a police press officer.

Police said they also used an "advanced technological method" to track the three men from the store to the hotel, though Ge would not reveal any details about the method.

Police checked the hotel's records to determine the suspects' identities and arrested Zhang and Fu at their homes in Shanghai. They caught Zhu at an electronics store in Jiangsu.

Police recovered six of the stolen phones, Ge said.

The three suspects had already sold the others by the time they were arrested.