Police stations across India have been receiving numerous parcels containing stolen mobile phones sent by their current users. These devices, often purchased unknowingly from the grey market, were sent back after authorities traced them using a government tracking system.
About six months ago, a 35-year-old Pulwama man bought a handset "at a discount price" from a local shop. Like many second-hand buyers, he focused primarily on the phone's network reception and battery life before completing the purchase, The Times of India reported.
He later discovered the phone originally belonged to Ranjeet Jha, a software engineer from Ghaziabad, who had lost it on October 16, 2023. Mr Jha recalls that day vividly. Dressed for a job interview, he took an auto with three others to New Bus Adda metro station.
"My father had called me while I was in the auto and after finishing the call, I kept holding the phone in my hand rather than put it back in my pocket," Mr Jha said. Distracted by the interview ahead, he did not notice when the phone slipped away. "I only realised it when I reached the ticket counter and had to pay for the ticket. Later, I filed a police complaint."
Mr Jha's complaint was registered on the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) portal, a government platform that tracks stolen phones using their IMEI numbers. In March 2024, the portal tracked the phone, which had a different SIM registered in Jammu and Kashmir.
Ghaziabad police contacted the Pulwama resident. "The caller identified himself as a police officer and informed me that I was using a stolen phone. I was shocked," the man told TOI.
"I replied that I had purchased it in my hometown, and I had an invoice for it. After hanging up, I contacted the local police station and asked them if they could verify what I was being told. They spoke to the Ghaziabad police and confirmed it was a stolen phone. So I decided to return it. The cops suggested I could courier it to them, and I did so."
Mobile phone theft remained a widespread problem across India, with many victims struggling to recover their lost or stolen devices. To tackle this issue, the government's Department of Telecommunications operated the CEIR portal, which enabled users to block stolen phones on all networks nationwide, making them useless to thieves.
To block a device, the CEIR portal requires victims to first file a police complaint and then submit the phone's IMEI number online.
Since May 16, 2023, users have registered over 50 lakh mobile devices on CEIR nationwide. Authorities blocked 31 lakh devices and located 19 lakh. Yet, police have recovered only 4.22 lakh phones.
In Delhi, police blocked 7.7 lakh phones, located 4.6 lakh, and recovered 8,951.
Uttar Pradesh blocked 1.7 lakh devices, located 1.1 lakh, and recovered 27,537.
States with strong recovery rates include Telangana (1.8 lakh located, 78,842 recovered), Karnataka (2 lakh located, 78,507 recovered), Rajasthan (65,368 located, 26,498 recovered), Andhra Pradesh (67,454 located, 24,198 recovered), Tamil Nadu (77,564 located, 25,852 recovered), and Gujarat (56,589 located, 21,211 recovered).
Around 70 individuals across India have sent stolen phones back to Ghaziabad police by courier. These phones are among nearly 1,200 stolen handsets from the last two years that CEIR helped locate. Many were snatched, sold in the grey market, or lost.
While CEIR improves tracking, it cannot trace phones with tampered IMEI numbers. Police say many stolen phones still carry intact IMEIs, which helps in recovery efforts.
