Railway cops use tracking lab to nab phone thieves

With the help of a mobile tracking lab, the Railway Police have tracked down several phone thefts taking place inside the local trains. The phones were recovered after filling the details of the stolen phones to the service providers.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) has set up a centralized mobile tracking lab in 2015. The lab has one chief officer and six other officers who work on the technical aspect. These officers coordinate with the police stations and cellular service providers in order to recover the phones.

The officials said that mobile phone thefts are mostly reported in areas of Kurla, Thane, Govandi and Mankhurd stations.

The statistics from GRP revealed that out of the 509 stolen phones, at least 290 mobile phones were recovered between January and February on the suburban railway section this year. The total cost of the recovered phones is valued at Rs. 46 lakh. In 2016, out of the total 2009 stolen phones, at least 1243 were recovered. The total cost of the recovered phones is valued at Rs 1 crore.

“We just need to fill the details of the lost phone to the service providers. The service providers inform us after they track the caller. The callers are tracked down after someone starts using the stolen mobile phone,” said a senior GRP official.

The officials have also been keeping track of the criminal record of the arrested accused before the court for stricter sentence.

The officials also said that several public awareness campaigns were conducted which were related to phone thefts. “Awareness programs like ‘Be safe’, posters, campaigns in schools and colleges have also contributed to the reduced phone thefts,” said an official.