Fort Police trace, return 272 lost phones worth Rs 1 crore

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a year-long chase, the Fort Police team has tracked down and returned 272 stolen or lost phones worth nearly Rs 1 crore to their owners, many of them recovered from far corners of the country. Acting on complaints from East Fort, Pazhavangadi and Chalai, a team led by the former station house officer Shivakumar used the CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) portal and technical data such as IMEI numbers and location tracking to trace the stolen phones. Since November 2024, the Fort Police have been consistently conducting such drives, helping residents get their phones back. The devices were recovered from across the state and even from states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. In October alone, 25 devices worth Rs 15 lakh were recovered and returned to owners. High-end phones are the usual targets, said Sreejith I S, one of the officers on the tracing team. Most of the thefts were committed by people from other states. Some devices end up in local shops while others are taken outside of the state, he said. The police advise every phone owner to register their IMEI number on the CEIR portal using an alternative mobile number. Once a stolen phones SIM is activated anywhere in the country, the portal notifies both the registered owner and the police. We usually call up the person who has the device and get them to send it back if it is outside of the state. Usually, it might be sold to some mobile shops, Sreejith said. If the phones are detected within Thiruvananthapuram or nearby districts, the team directly tracks down the culprits. Some migrant workers steal and keep the phones at their homes. We recover them from there. There are locals involved too, he added. The farthest the team has gone to retrieve a phone was Delhi, where the complainant had crucial data stored on the device, police said. The initiative began when former Fort SHO Shivakumar noticed a sharp rise in complaints about missing phones. This drive is now continued by the team. High-end phones usual target High-end phones are the usual targets, said Sreejith I S, one of the officers on the tracing team Most of the thefts were committed by people from other states. Some devices end up in local shops, he said