Lost phones worth 23L recovered using CEIR

T'puram: Around 65 mobile phones worth nearly Rs 23 lakh, reported lost from different parts of Fort police sub-division limits, were recovered using Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) portal. The recovered mobile phones were formally handed over to their owners by city police commissioner K Karthick at a function held at commoners' office on Wednesday.Police said CEIR is a portal launched by the department of telecommunications to trace, block and recover lost or stolen mobile phones using their IMEI numbers. The phones were recovered by tracking their IMEI numbers and location data from various parts of Kerala and other states.The recovered devices included several expensive models such as iPhones, Google and Samsung smartphones. The phones were reported missing from areas under Thampanoor, Fort, Karamana, Kovalam and Nemom police stations.Karthick said similar initiatives to trace and recover lost mobile phones would continue in the coming days as part of efforts to assist public. "Timely reporting of missing phones significantly improves the chances of tracing and recovering them," he said.Police also urged public to immediately lodge complaints at nearest police station and register details through CEIR portal if their mobile phones go missing to facilitate prompt recovery.Police said the recovery drive was carried out on the instructions of city police commissioner and under the supervision of deputy commissioner of police Deepak Dhankhar and Fort assistant commissioner Manoj Kumar.A special team comprising officers from Fort, Thampanoor, Karamana, Kovalam and Nemom police stations conducted the investigation and traced the missing phones.The team included SHO Jayakrishnan, Vinod Kumar, Joseph Lyon, Arun Kumar, Ajith Kumar, SCPO Sreejith and CPOs Vivek, Sarath, Anuraj and Anu S Krishna, among others.