Basistha cops recover 76 phones, return them to owners

Guwahati: Officers from Basistha police station have recovered 76 phones since the beginning of this year till Sunday and handed them back to their owners. The phones were that were either lost or stolen.According to officers, the recoveries were made through continuous tracking and coordination with police officers of other states. “Many of the phones had been traced to other districts of Assam, and some to states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, from where they were tracked and brought back,” said Basistha police station OC Deepjyoti Engti.“Most of these phones are either snatched by truck drivers and sold to buyers in other states at cheaper rates, or lost by people while travelling in trains and buses,” the OC added.According to police, most of the recovered phones belonged to residents of Guwahati. However, some also belonged to people from Sivasagar, Jorhat, and other districts or even other states. The recovery process involved identifying the devices through the device’s unique international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number and tracking their movement after complaints were filed.“So far, we have handed over phones to about 50% of the owners, most of whom are from Guwahati. Two owners are from Manipur, three from Nagaland, and five from Meghalaya. More people are still coming forward,” Engti said.