The Hindu : New Delhi News : New system to trace your stolen mobile

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Sunday, Nov 12, 2006
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New Delhi

New system to trace your stolen mobile

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Those desirous of buying a second-hand mobile phone and wanting to ascertain that it is not a stolen piece can now simply log on to the Delhi Police website for getting the answer to their query. With the IMEI number of the mobile phone, the website's stolen/ missing mobile phones link will verify its genuineness.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Muktesh Chander said on Saturday that the Computer Centre of the Crime Branch had been working on the project for about a month. "A data of around 5,000 stolen or missing mobile phones has already been uploaded and it is going to be a continuous process. We will also be putting in data available from neighbouring States like Rajasthan and Haryana," said Mr. Chander. The IMEI number of the mobile phone can be obtained by pressing *#06#.

The web-based module embedded with ZIPNET (Zonal Integrated Police Network) also has the facility to enable the police stations of not only Delhi but also of the neighbouring States to upload data on stolen mobile phones. This will help in upgrading the database.

Mr. Chander said that apart from the buyers, the dealers too could ensure that the mobile phones that have been supplied to them for resale were not stolen or not reported missing. On the other hand, the investigating officers can use the facility to run a check on the seized mobile phones to trace the owners. Further, the database will have full addresses and contact numbers of the complainants. The complainants can also check on the website if the details of their mobile phones have been correctly registered. The police or even the ordinary citizen can use the same to contact the complainants if the IMEI number of the phone that is bought matches that of the complainant's mobile phones.

To make people aware of the facility, the police are planning to target market places like Palika Bazar and Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh, which are big markets for second-hand mobile phones. The police also have evidence of a large number of stolen mobile phones being sold in these markets.

"We will put up special notice boards in these areas and advertisements are also in the offing," said Mr. Chander.

The police would also supply the database to the cellular phone networks periodically to track down stolen or missing phones that are active. This should help the investigators in speeding up recovery of such phones, said Mr. Chander.

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