KARACHI, Jan 18: The incidence of mobile phone snatching in the city has risen sharply with more technologically advanced cell phones becoming available in the market.

Apart from the criminals already "working in the field", a good number of teenagers are reported to have become active in this area; some for the thrill of it and others to make quick money.

Prices of the latest sets start from rupees fifteen thousand. Sets with cameras and internet access cost between Rs25 to 30,000. Police say that now the criminals don't waste their time on old models; they go for the latest ones.

Some old models still available in the market can be bought for rupees four thousand five hundred. Criminals don't snatch old sets unless they are desperate, says a police officer.

Snatched mobile phones can be easily sold for cash at second-hand cell phone markets functioning unchecked at various spots in the city. Recently, a young man was injured critically when he tried to resist two armed suspects who snatched his cell phone in Kharadar. They shot him and fled with the phone. With a bullet injury in his spinal cord the victim is still in a critical condition.

A young man apprehended by police for attempting a robbery at a cell phone shop turned out to be the son of a Sindh High Court judge. A pistol was recovered from his possession. Following his arrest by the Boat Basin police, a complainant claimed that the same suspect had taken his cell phone at gunpoint a few days ago in the same area.

In another incident a mobile snatcher was shot dead in Gulberg by police after he had snatched a cell phone from one Tariq Rasheed. Tariq had rushed to a police picket and police acted, killing one bandit and injuring another. Three cell phones were recovered from the possession of the injured suspect.

Even policemen have not been spared. Sub-inspector Nasir Lodhi, posted at the Samnabad police station, was shot dead when he resisted armed men in North Karachi.

According to reports, he was waiting for someone in his private car when the armed men came and deprived him of his cell phone and cash. After handing over the valuables the policeman tried to take out his pistol and was shot dead.

A visit to Electronic Market at Abdullah Haroon Road revealed that if one was carrying a cell phone in his hand he would be approached by someone asking whether he wanted to sell his set. The shopkeepers in the market refuse no one. No questions are asked by the shopkeepers.

A senior police official says if the shopkeepers in the market refuse to buy such sets, the crime of cell phone snatching will diminish. Electronic Market is perhaps the largest market for used sets in the country.

A few months back the Preedy police arrested a suspect from the market when a man who had been robbed of his set noticed the suspect who had come to the market to sell the set.

Police said the complainant had come to the market to buy another set after being deprived of his cell phone at gunpoint by armed suspects. They said cash was also taken away in such robberies, along with the mobile set.

Several such cases are reported to have taken place during night time, especially in the district South in which pedestrians are robbed of their mobile sets and cash by armed youths on motorcycles.

The stretch of I.I.Chundrigar Road from Tower to Shaheen Complex is witnessing an increased number of armed robberies. Armed men often board public transport vehicles and deprive commuters of cell phones and cash. People often refrain from registering FIRs fearing trouble at police stations.

The thief only has to take out the sim card from the stolen set to get rid of the old number at which the owner of the set rings up in an effort to locate his set. It is extremely rare that a misplaced or lost set gets returned to the rightful owner. It ends up at the shelves of some mobile outlet at Electronic Market.

"We have no means to verify that the set is not stolen. People from every walk of life come and sell their sets, and most often buy other sets. It is impossible for us to know whether the sets are stolen or not", said a shopkeeper at the market.