400 Stolen Mobile Phones Recovered in NTR District

Vijayawada: NTR district police recovered 400 stolen mobile phones, worth Rs.50 lakh, and returned them to the rightful owners in its latest drive to locate missing devices using the central equipment identity register (CEIR) and chatbot portals.

Commissioner of police S.V. Raja Sekhara Babu handed over the phones to their original owners at the Command Control Centre in Vijayawada on Sunday.

He said the cybercrime police wing has so far recovered a total of 1,785 stolen mobiles.

Explaining the process, he said cybercrime police enter the IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) and address proof details of the complainants into the CEIR portal.

“After entering the details, the complainant will receive an acknowledgement number, following which the telecom service provider will block the IMEI number and provide details of the current user. The phone will then be recovered from the current user, after which the IMEI number will be unblocked, and the mobile phone will be handed over to the original owner,” the CP explained.

During this process, the ChatBot portal service guides the complainant.

On this occasion, Rajasekhar Babu urged the public to utilise the CEIR and ChatBot portal services if their mobile phones are either stolen or lost.

The CP further mentioned that the department has created awareness among 18,000 citizens using the cyber citizens portal and aims to achieve 4 lakh app downloads in the next two to three months.

He also appealed to the public to dial the toll-free number 1930 to lodge complaints against cybercrimes.

Later, the CP inspected the Command Control Centre, reviewed the performance of CCTV cameras, and advised police personnel to provide better services to the public.

DCP Goutami Shali, ADCP G. Rama Krishna, M. Raja Rao, and cybercrime police officers were present.