CEIR portal helps tracking of lost or stolen mobile phones within 24 hours of the report

Dakshina Kannada District Police track 10 lost mobile phones in last two days using the CEIR portal

The Dakshina Kannada district police were able to recover a total of 10 mobile phones within 24 hours of their loss on Thursday and Friday, February 23 and 24 through the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) Portal, ceir.gov.in, of the Union Department of Telecommunications (DOT).

DOT had launched the portal to curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market, curb phone theft, protect consumer interest and help law enforcement agencies for lawful interception. CEIR gets connected to the IMEI database of all the mobile phone operators while acting as a Central system for all network operators to share blacklisted mobile devices. This was to ensure a device blacklisted in one network did not work on other networks even if the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) in the device was changed.

On Thursday, seven mobile phones were recovered through CEIR portal by the Cybercrime, Economic Offences and Narcotics Police Station, Uppinangady, Puttur Town and Sulia Police Stations. Similarly, three phones were recovered by the CEN and Uppinangady police on Friday.

CEIR Portal has brought in a massive change in the telecom sector, said Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police Vikram Amathe. From a situation where people had to forget lost mobile phones, the system has developed into tracking the lost/ stolen mobile phones within 24 hours, he told The Hindu. Instances of police stations refusing to register complaints or issuing acknowledgments for lost mobile phones could not be seen any more, he said.

Once a complaint was lodged with the police by the owner, the details, including the IMEI number would be uploaded onto the CEIR Portal and the phone gets blocked. Whenever someone attempts to use the phone through another SIM, the enforcement authorities would immediately get notified and could track the device, he said.

Besides ensuring retrieval of the lost mobile phone, CEIR also ensures lost/stolen phones were not used for illegal activities thereby helping enforcement agencies.

CEIR says the EMEI number would be printed on the phone box. Those buying used phones should check IMEI status by dialling *#06#, wherein IMEI gets displayed on the screen. If the status shows ‘blacklisted,’ such phones should not be bought, CEIR advices.