A Canadian tourist who had his phone stolen in Manchester is facing a Christmas nightmare. The device contains more than 100 treasured pictures of his late grandmother.
Behbood Hussain knows exactly where his phone is - in a tower block in Salford. But police have advised him not to enter the building and start asking questions.
He lost his Samsung S22 Ultra in a black case on December 27th. "Through Samsung's Find My Mobile web application I was able to find out the phone was in a specific tower block in Salford. It is a multi-storey with about 80 flats.
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"I went there with a relative and then called at Pendleton Police Station nearby, but it was not open to the public. We went to Swinton but that had closed too.
"I eventually reported it to the police but they advised not to go into the tower block and put ourselves in danger and said they could not barge in without a search warrant for a particular flat. I am not looking for anyone to be prosecuted I just hope that at this time of year anyone who has it will show some compassion and return it."
The phones contains images of Behbood's grandmother, Sughra, who died in October. "They are pictures taken over a number of years and are of huge sentimental value to me. I hope the person who took the phone can emotionally connect with my story and hand over the phone back to me or make arrangements with the family I have here in London to arrange for a pickup - or just leave it at a police station," said Behbood.
The 42-year-old from Toronto was visiting Manchester with his wife and two children, and his in-laws family from London. They were all staying in an Airbnb in Gorton. On December 27th they attended a laundrette in Levenshulme.
"We were carrying bags of washing from the laundrette to a car and I think the phone may have fallen from my pocket then. We phoned it and got a ring tone until 8.37pm that day when it was switched off. The App device located it as first being on Market Street in Manchester city centre, then Corporation Street, before it was on the A6 and eventually in Salford in the tower block. We kept checking the location app and the tower block is where it has remained.
"We have visited London before to see relatives but decided to go to Manchester to see what the north of England is like. We had a great visit and did a tour of the Etihad Stadium which was very impressive, but by then my phone had been stolen and I could not take pictures. We fly back to Toronto from London tomorrow (Saturday). It is a time of giving and I would ask the person who has it to do the right thing."
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