Telangana Police recovers 76 stolen mobile phones every day

Hyderabad, May 21 (IANS) With the recovery of an average of 76 stolen or lost mobiles every day, Telangana ranks second in the recovery of mobile phones in the country, a senior police official said on Tuesday.

The state police recovered 30,049 mobile devices since the launch of the Central Equipment Identity Register (CIER) portal on April 19, 2023.

The portal was developed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to curb the menace of mobile theft and counterfeit mobile devices.

With the recovery of 35,945 mobile phones, Karnataka stands first in the country. Maharashtra is at third position with the recovery of 15,426 devices during the same period. Andhra Pradesh is at fourth place with 7,387 devices.

The portal was officially launched nationwide on May 17, 2023, but was started on pilot basis in Telangana from April 19, 2023, said Shikha Goel, Additional Director General of Police (ADG), CID, who is designated as nodal officer for CEIR portal in Telangana.

The portal is operated in all 780 police stations in the state. Mahesh Bhagwat, the then ADG, CID was the first state-level nodal officer who streamlined mobile recovery within the state and outside.

Currently, Shikha Goel, who is now monitoring the progress of work under the CEIR portal, said 1,000 devices were recovered in the last nine days and handed over to complainants.

The maximum recoveries have been made by Hyderabad Commissionerate with 4,869 mobile devices, followed by Cyberabad Commissionerate with 3,078 and Rachakonda Commissionerate with 3042 mobile devices. Warangal Commissionerate recovered 1,919 devices, followed by Nizamabad with 1,556 devices.

To enhance user-friendliness and serve the citizens of Telangana more efficiently Telangana Police in coordination with DoT has successfully integrated the CEIR portal with TS Police Citizen Portal.

The citizens have been requested to utilize this service on the TS Police Citizen Portal for reporting lost/missing mobile devices.

Lavanya NJP, SP, Cyber Crime, CID, T.S. Hyderabad, in coordination with DOT officials, including Hemant Rathwe, DDG Security, M. Arvind Kumar, Director Security, Lakshmana Kumar K, Assistant Director (Security Audit), and Ch. Suresh Babu, Inspector of IT Cell, CID is overseeing the implementation of the CEIR application in the state.