hances of a man getting back his lost mobile phone are lesser as the police say the mobiles are reduced to spares or used for other purposes that do not need a SIM card. Knowing that most mobile phone thefts cannot be detected, police, too, do not register a case or give a First Information Report (FIR) for mobile phone thefts.
In most cases, the police give a community service register (CSR) to complainants on receipt of their complaints. A case is registered for mobile phone thefts, when the accused is caught red-handed while trying to flee with a stolen mobile. But it is just tip of the iceberg compared to actual number of mobile phone thefts taking place in the city.
Some accused in the pretext of making an emergency call ask for mobile phones from the victims and flee with it.
Not many are as lucky as 27-year-old V. Sathyaraj, of SITRA in the city, to get back his mobile phone four months after it was stolen, when it was put to use. Police identified the user of the phone as a college student in Namakkal district. The girl told the police that her boyfriend in Salem gave it to her. On inquiry, he told the police that he bought it from a mobile shop in Tirupur.
The Deputy Commissioner of Coimbatore City Police R. Sivakumar, who was earlier the DC of the cyber crime cell of the Chennai City Police, said that chances of a person getting back his smart phone is remote – compared to a basic model mobile phone.
“In addition to talking and sending messages, smart phones have many features such as good quality music players, camera and games and applications supporting it. These options can be used even without a SIM card. Some even give such phones to their children to play games,” he said.
This reduces the scope of police tracking the phone as a new SIM card has not been used. According to him, only 20 per cent of the stolen expensive mobile phones were used for such purposes about two years ago. It has now increased to 50 per cent. Expensive phones also end as dismantled spares in the grey market as their display and battery fetch a good price.
