KARACHI, Oct 20: Incidents of snatching and theft of cellphones are on the rise as 508 mobile phones had been taken away by bandits during the first half of Ramazan. Since the holy month began, bandits snatched 188 mobile phones and stole 320 others. It indicates that 39 people are deprived of their cellular phones daily in the city. During the 15 days of Ramazan, the police could collect the data of 13 days only as on the two Sundays, which fell during the first half of the month, police officials assigned to collect data were on their weekly holidays.

A synchronized data about the incidents of cellphone snatching and theft, being jointly prepared by the police and the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee, shows that more than 22,000 cellular phones have either been snatched at gunpoint or stolen in various localities in the city during the 10 months from December 2004 to September 2005. The police and the CPLC started collecting data about cellphone incidents in December when the incidents appeared daily in the media. Some of the recovered phones were returned to their owners with the efforts of the CPLC but they are few in numbers as compared to those snatched or stolen.

Despite the fact that the police set up a Task Force in the Anti-Violence Crime Cell (AVCC) on the special directives of prime minister Shaukat Aziz on July 11, no significant decline in robberies of cellphones has been witnessed.

According to the data compiled by the Karachi police, a total number of 7,094 vehicles (2,895 cars and 4,199 motorcycles) were taken away by bandits in the first nine months this year as compared to 8,056 vehicles (2,902 cars and 5,154 motorbikes) in the corresponding period of the previous year. The data shows that the number of vehicles taken away is smaller than the number of cellphones either snatched or stolen.

The comparison of the data of vehicles and cellphones shows that the robbers are switching over to taking away cellular phones instead of vehicles. The risk factor of life is lesser in snatching or stealing a cellphone as compared to a car or a motorbike. A cellphone can be hidden in a pocket and its disposal in the local market is easier.

Recently, a team of the AVCC raided the electronic market in Saddar and found no shopkeeper who had a stolen cellphone, as claimed by the Karachi Electronic Dealers’ Association, which said that the shopkeepers had been cooperating with the officials to curb the trade of stolen cellphones.

However, sources said AVCC officials did not go to those shops where the IMEI numbers and secret codes of cellphones were being altered. Some of the shopkeepers in the market have latest techniques to alter IMEI numbers so that it could not be detected as stolen. These shopkeepers charge hundreds of rupees for the task, but the police were unaware of all these activities.

A senior officer said: “No one has brought it to our notice that this is taking place in the market. We have paid a surprise visit to the market and found no stolen cellphone there. We have put a strict check on trading of cellphones.”

IN SINDH PA: A journalist, Akbar Baloch, was deprived of his cellular phone in the Sindh Assembly building on Thursday, APP adds.