KARACHI, July 7: Police has decided to launch a crackdown on those dealers and shopkeepers in the Saddar mobile electronics market who have been involved in the trading of snatched or stolen cellphones. City police chief Tariq Jamil confirmed the reports about the crackdown saying “We have to eliminate the points where the stolen mobile phones are disposed of. The major point of such type is the Saddar electronic market where more than 80 per cent trading of stolen cellphones takes place.”

He recalled that an agreement between the police and the Karachi Electronics Dealers’ Association (KEDA) was reached in collaboration with the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC). According to the agreement, the KEDA would identify those involved in trading the snatched or stolen phones. It was also agreed that if a cellphone was found stolen after it had been purchased by a dealer or shopkeeper, the cellphone had to be deposited with the police or the CPLC and the information about the seller would be passed on to the police.

Mr Jamil said that the KEDA had failed to keep its promise despite the fact that several meetings were held with its representatives and they were apprised of the violation of their commitment. After repeated failure on the part of the KEDA, the police decided to take stern action against those involved in trading of stolen cellphones.

He said that the Saddar Town Police Officer Sanaullah Abbasi had been directed to take every possible step to eliminate the illegal trading of cellphones in the Saddar electronics market.

Mr Jamil said that the major responsibility of curbing the trading of stolen cellphones lied upon the mobile phone companies. They could have the technology to jam the stolen mobile phone sets but the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority did not press them.

“We have asked to the authorities concerned about the issue and requested them to bind the mobile phone operators to adopt a technology that can jam the mobile phone sets on request of the user,” he added.

Mr Jamil said that the most effective way to check the snatching and stealing of cellphones was to jam the phone sets. However, the authorities concerned were least interested in pressurizing the mobile phone companies.

He said that a method to make a cellphone useless had been adopted in which a complaint was lodged at the Madadgar 15, or the CPLC with the IMEI number of the stolen phone set, which was passed on to all mobile phone operators.

He said that some of the cellphones were recovered through this process and returned to their owners, but the mobile phone operators had not implemented the method effectively which ultimately created problems for the law enforcers.

However, the KEDA representatives held the police responsible for patronizing the illegal trading of cellular phones in the electronics market. They dispelled the impression that there was any involvement of any influential personalities in the illegal business. They said that the KEDA had at different occasions pointed out those involved in the business of stolen cellphones but the police officials were reluctant to nab them.

According to police sources, since January this year, 11,161 cellphones have been either snatched or stolen in the metropolis by the bandits of them, more than 3,000 sets were snatched at gunpoint.

During the past one week of July 1,569 cellphones have been reported either stolen or snatched from different parts of the city.