Police recover 785 mobile phones worth ₹1.45 crore

The police have recovered 785 mobile phones worth ₹1.45 crore during a two-month special drive carried out using the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) portal, according to Police Commissioner S.D. Sharanappa said on Thursday.

Addressing presspersons at the office of the Police Commissioner in Kalaburagi, Dr. Sharanappa said that acting on complaints regarding lost mobile phones through the e-Lost and CEIR portals across police station limits under the Kalaburagi Police Commissionerate, the police, under the guidance of the Police Commissioner and the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police, launched a coordinated operation involving inspectors of all police stations, CEIR portal support teams and personnel from CEN police stations.

As part of the drive, 785 mobile phones worth ₹1,44,90,000 were traced and returned to their rightful owners, Dr. Sharanappa said and added that, so far, the police have recovered and handed over 2,408 mobile phones, in all, to their owners.

The Police Commissioner said that the recovered mobile phones have been traced from various States.

Of the 785 phones, 688 were recovered from Karnataka, 41 from Maharashtra, 23 each from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, seven from Bihar and three from Uttar Pradesh.

Within Karnataka, 590 mobile phones have been recovered in Kalaburagi, 20 in Vijayapura, 18 in Bidar, 17 in Bengaluru, 16 in Yadgir, 12 in Raichur, eight in Vijayanagara district and seven in Ballari districts.

Appealing to the public to take precautions to secure their devices, Dr. Sharanappa urged mobile phone users to set strong passwords, enable “Find My Device” feature and use thumb locks on their phones.

He also advised people to register complaints without delay on the e-Lost and CEIR portals in case of loss or theft of mobile phones.

Dr. Sharanappa said that the chances of tracing and recovering lost mobile phones have increased significantly with the effective implementation of the CEIR and e-Lost applications.

“If complaints are registered promptly through these platforms, there is nearly a 70% chance of recovering lost or stolen mobile phones. Public awareness and timely reporting play a crucial role in successful recovery,” he said.

Deputy Commissioners of Police Shaloo and Praveen H. Nayak were present.