KARACHI, July 9: As many as 15 cellphones sets were snatched at gunpoint and another 25 stolen in various parts of the metropolis on Saturday, police said. Bandits also took away three cars and two motorcycles in different areas and snatched five motorcycles at gunpoint. According to the CPLC, a total of 11,539 cellular phones were taken away by the bandits since January this year and the sets include 3,000 snatched at gunpoint.

A spokesman for the city police chief dispelled the impression that police were going to withhold the information regarding the total number of mobile phone snatching and theft. He said that the statistics were available with the office of the CCPO and the media could obtain the same from there. He said that during the first eight days of July, only 125 mobile phones were snatched.

He said that the police were concerned about the incidents of snatching of cellphones and all possible steps were being taken to curb the crime. A decision about action against those involved in trading of stolen phone sets had also been taken, he said, adding that mobile phone companies were in contact in connection with introducing the facility to jam any stolen mobile phone.

He said that usually people would not report theft of their cellphones. He said that the theft was a serious crime and people should remain careful and take precautionary steps in this regard.

Meanwhile, chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee Sharfuddin Memon said that the CPLC was an independent body serving the interests of citizens without taking any pressure from any quarter. The close liaison between police and CPLC had resulted in many successful raids conducted to curb the crime and apprehend the criminals. He said that the CPLC collected pertinent data from various sources which was analyzed scientifically and produced in a format as a tool to anticipate and fight crime.

He said: “CPLC is a service-oriented body and all data available with it is freely available to the police and the general public whenever required.”

According to the data compiled by the CPLC, 370 stolen phones were blocked by Mobilink, 86 by Ufone, and 195 by Paktel GSM. A total of 74 stolen mobile phones were deposited at the CPLC, of them 56 have been handed over to their owners.

Information secretary of the Karachi Electronics Dealers Association (KEDA) Shahid Ali Sehr in a statement on Saturday said that KEDA office-bearers would launch an operation against those allegedly involved in the trading in stolen mobile phone sets. He said that the image of the entire market was at the stake due to a few elements.

The KEDA has asked its members to seek and keep a copy of the ID card of a person selling a used mobile phone set and also the IMEI number. He said that if he did not produce his ID card, the set should be considered as stolen one.