Around 50,000 mobile handsets are stolen every year: report
Dhaka: As carrying cell-phone sets has become an essential affair these days, losing the gadget or having it stolen is also common. Where do these lost or stolen sets go actually? Police claim most of the stolen expensive ones are in fact smuggled out of the country as it has turned out to be an illicit booming business.
Intelligence sources said several syndicates are active in the country that collect the lost, stolen or snatched mobiles phones at a lump sum price and then sell those in the grey market changing their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) so that no one can easily trace those.
When the IMEI duplication of sophisticated handsets turns expensive or get complicated, they then smuggle those out of the country, making it difficult for law enforcers to track them, UNB reported on Saturday quoting the intelligence officials.
They said a database of mobile handset IMEI numbers and registration alongside SIMs are needed to curb theft, extortion of the sets and crimes using cellphones.
There are now 8.92 crore usable handsets across the country, according to Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPIA). It said around 50,000 cellphone sets are snatched or stolen every year in Bangladesh.
“A large number of the lost cellphones, especially the pricier ones like iPhone, Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Sony and Blackberry, are being smuggled to mainly neighbouring countries like India, Myanmar and Nepal,” additional deputy commissioner (DB, north) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Mohammad Shajahan said.
Besides, he said, miscreants sell low-priced stolen mobile handsets usually in shops and footpaths of Gulistan area as well as several other city markets, while the costlier ones on online market through different e-commerce sites.
Another DB official wishing anonymity said the syndicates also smuggle such mobile phone sets to some Middle Eastern countries and Malaysia through expatriates.
Contacted, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Saiful Islam of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit, DMP, said they have no accurate statistics of how many general diaries or cases are registered in 49 police stations in the capital each month over mobile phone theft incidents.
He said many victims appear hesitant in informing the police about the incidents of their phones getting snatched or stolen.
Saiful, however, said they get around 150-200 requests for tracking lost mobile sets from different people or police stations every month on average.
He said detectives or police can recover a few of the lost mobile sets tracking the IMEI numbers of the missing devices as in most cases miscreants scrapped those.
“When the IMEI codes of the stolen phones are changed, then it’s difficult for us to locate the phone users.”
The ADC said they, during a recent drive, found over 80 mobile phone sets with the same IMEI number as it is now very easy to duplicate or change the code in the country.
He said it is now necessary to make it mandatory for the registration of cell phones’ IMEIs along with the SIM cards to check criminal offences and phone set stealing.
ADC Shahjahan said miscreants sometimes change the IMEI numbers before selling the missing smart phone sets. Some mobile phone shops or servicing points at Dhaka’s well-known shopping centres and in other markets in the capital are involved in the brisk business of changing the IMEI codes.
He said innocent buyers of second-hand cellphones sometimes have to face hassle when police trace their locations through IMEI tracking.
During a recent visit to Motaleb Plaza and Eastern Plaza, it was seen people are coming with different sets, mainly expensive ones to unlock their country codes and IMEI numbers. They claimed those phone sets were brought from abroad.
Talking to UNB, some shop owners said they change the IMEI codes of phones using some Chinese software and take Tk 300 to 5,000 based on their quality and brand.
Rezwanul Haque, general secretary of the BMPIA, said hand sets’ IMEI registration now crucial alongside SIM as the government is getting deprived of huge revenue for illegal entrance of sets through different channels.
Contacted, BTRC chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said they have started preparing an automated mobile handset IMEI number database, and it will be completed within three months.
Once the cell phone data base is created, he said, people will easily be able to check whether the IMEI codes of their handsets are genuine or not, alongside ensuring security.
On completion of the work on IMEA database, Dr Shahjahan said, they will think about the registration of cellphone sets’ secret codes like SIM cards.