The district police in Ranipet have handed over 30 lost and found mobile phones to the owners here on Tuesday. Superintendent of Police (SP), D. V. Kiran Shruthi, distributed the phones worth ₹4.5 lakh that were recovered by the cyber crime police to the owners.
“Owners of lost mobiles are from various places including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hosur and Tiruvannamalai. Most of them are travellers,” said Ms. Shruthi.
The cyber crime team has been monitoring the missing mobile phone handsets through their IMEI number at periodical intervals. Lost phones were tracked using IMEI numbers. Police said that whenever the missing phones are activated, either by those who find them on the road or bought second-hand from shops without proper verification, the cyber crime police team alerts the user that the phones they are using are illegal property. The users either hand them over to the police or send them through courier from other districts and other States. Using cyber crime cells, all complaints of snatching or missing mobiles phones were taken up for investigation.
A helpline number (1930) is also available for residents to register complaints on the missing and lost mobile phones and those who are in possession of such phones.