VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada police handed over 600 stolen mobile phones, valued at approximately `70 lakh, to their rightful owners. At a programme held in the Command Control Room in Vijayawada on Tuesday, NTR District Police Commissioner (CP) SV Rajasekhar Babu returned the phones after tracing the owners using IMEI numbers and service provider details.
Out of the 600 recovered phones, 504 were from Andhra Pradesh, 20 from Odisha, 18 from Karnataka, 16 from Maharashtra, 13 from Rajasthan, 12 from Uttar Pradesh, 10 from Bihar, and seven from West Bengal.
The police recovered these phones through the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) portal after complaints were registered. According to the CP, “so far 2,500 lost or stolen mobiles have been returned to the owners.”
He said the NTR district commissioner had handed back phones in four trances with the support of cybercrime police.
“If people file a complaint through the CIR portal (https://www.ceir.gov.in), the mobile phone will be blocked immediately. The original phone will stop working and as soon as the person who stole the phone inserts a different SIM, we will automatically get an alert,” the CP added.
“6,000 CCTV cameras have been installed in six months across the Commissionerate. CCTVs are being installed at all temples, mosques, and churches as part of Divine Suraksha. We are taking steps to install CCTV in and around every school,” he added.