Madurai district police have won laurels at State level in recovery of lost mobile phones in the past one year period ending on August 31, 2025.
While the district police have stood first among all districts with the highest recovery rate of 64%, Usilampatti police have bagged the third rank among all police stations in Tamil Nadu taking efforts for recovering the lost mobile phones.
Madurai district police record every complaint of mobile phone missing/lost under community service register (CSR) and make efforts to trace them by registering the mobile phone details in Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), a portal developed by Department of Telecommunication.
“However, for those mobile phones that are snatched or robbed, we do not use this procedure,” said Madurai District Superintendent of Police B.K. Arvind.
CEIR that operates based on the international Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) of mobile phones would track those phones.
Using the CEIR, the mobile phone lost/missing could be blocked for usage. “However, whenever another SIM card is inserted, the portal would trace it and alert the police,” Mr. Arvind said.
As and when a stolen/missing phone is switched on, the portal would identify it and send an alert to the police.
This portal can trace all the mobile phones irrespective of the mobile service provider across the country.
While technology has made tracking of missing phones easier, the recognition Madurai district police have got is for the human intervention in getting back the phones.
As soon as the portal alerts about tracing of the missing/lost phone along with the new mobile number (based on the new SIM card inserted), the police call the new user to inform him/her about the mobile phone being a lost/stolen property.
“Our men keep talking to them and make them hand it in person or send them to the police. This is where the sincerity in duty of the police makes the difference in early restoration of the lost/missing phone to the owner,” the SP said.
The SP said that tracing and restoring the every second mobile lost is a great achievement. On its part, Usilampatti police station had restored 89% of the lost/missing mobile phones to the owners in the same period.
Mr. Arvind said that value of a lost mobile phone is not just the market cost of the gadget. For, the phones have lot of data stored in it, like photographs, personal details, including bank details. Owners could also have sentimental attachments like it being their first phone or a gift, the SP said.
People only hope for better follow up by police that would help in higher percentage of recovery and restoration of phones to the owners in the coming days.
Published – November 14, 2025 10:00 pm IST
