80 missing mobile phones retrieved and returned to owners

The Ranipet district police returned 80 mobile phones worth ₹11.45 lakhs to their rightful owners on Saturday. This initiative followed the establishment of a Cyber Crime police unit at the SP office in the district and the introduction of a cell tracker application for registering complaints. Under the norms, police stations were required to trace and return missing phones once every six months before the creation of the cyber crime cell.

The cyber crime team monitored the missing mobile phone handsets by tracking their IMEI numbers at regular intervals. They identified and traced the lost phones using these unique identifiers. Whenever a missing phone was activated, either by someone who found it on the street or by a second-hand buyer who failed to verify its authenticity, the cybercrime police team informed the owner that the device was stolen property.

Users could then either surrender the phone to the police or send it via courier from other regions. Through the cybercrime cells, all complaints related to stolen or missing mobile phones were investigated.