Kalwa police track 55 lost mobile phones, return them to citizens

The police used a special app that detects mobile phones as soon as they are switched on to track lost phones, and retrieved them by physically visiting these locations.

Thane: The Kalwa police station recovered and distributed over 50 phones of various brands worth ₹4,56,850 to their respective owners that were lost from the surroundings in 2022-23 and a missing property complaint was lodged thereafter. The ceremony that took place on Friday evening at the hands of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Ganesh Gawade was attended by around 40-45 people, eager to get their lost phones back.

Thane, India - October,08, 2023:kalwa poilice recovering 55 mobile phones ,in Thane, in Mumbai, India, on, Sunday, October , 08, 2023. ( Praful Gangurde / HT Photo )

“CEIR is an app that was used to recover all 55 phones in less than two months. Once details are filled into the app, the phone can be tracked as soon as the person who found it switches it on, even after inserting a new sim card,” said Kanhaiya Thorat, senior police inspector, Kalwa police station.

A search party was set up under the guidance of Thorat and Police Inspector (Crime) J. P Kuwar which then tracked these phones and physically visited the places to retrieve them from their holders.

The police told HT that no arrests were made considering that holders readily surrendered the phones when asked to, stating reasons like they found it somewhere, perhaps in a rickshaw, or someone gave it to them.