New Delhi: The Mumbai Police have recovered at least 44,000 lost or stolen phones, since 2023, using a new technology. They have been using the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) database of the Union Ministry of Communications to track these mobile phones. The initiative is aimed at combating mobile theft and loss.
70% phones recovered in past 8 months
The Cyber Police said that of the total phones recovered since 2023, 70% were recovered in the past 8 months alone. Talking about how the system works, the Times of India reported that once a victim reports a phone as missing or stolen at a police station, its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is entered into the CEIR database by the officers.
Within 24 hours of the complaint, the mobile number is blocked. It thus becomes non-operational on any telecom network across the country. The moment a new SIM card is inserted into the stolen mobile handset, the system triggers an alert. The police then easily track the phone and start processes to recover it.
The recovery part is where the real challenge arises. The Mumbai Police have had to travel to 19 different districts to recover the phones. In total 19 Mumbai Police teams visited UP and managed to recover 1,650 handsets stolen or lost in the city. The value of the phones recovered from UP was Rs 2 crore, said the report.
The operations are conducted under the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber) wing of Mumbai Police. He is the nodal officer appointed in the case. It is his duty to coordinate with the local police teams of other states and then recover the mobile phones.
Phones returned to customers
On Saturday a total of 939 phones recovered by the Mumbai Police were returned to their rightful owners. Many said that they had bittersweet memories attached to the phones. In one case, a person said that he got the handset, but the memory card, which contained his late mother’s photographs and some important documents could not be found.
Cybersecurity consultant Ritesh Bhatia requested that the government create a central coordinating agency to handle inter-state phone retrievals. Currently police teams have to travel 100s of kilometres to recover the stolen phones, he said. He said that a central team can coordinate with police teams from other states and get the stolen devices shipped to their original destination, where the loss report was filed. He said that this would not only save time, but also be more economical.