Ten-fold spike in cellphone thefts on local trains

OVER 20,700 mobile phones were stolen from passengers travelling in trains in Mumbai last year, according to Government Railway Police (GRP) data.

Compared to 2016 when only 2,009 cases of mobile phone thefts were registered, 2017 saw a 10-fold spike in cellphone thefts (20,764) in trains on both central and western lines. GRP officials said the increase in number was because all missing and stolen mobile phone cases were now being registered. Until last year, depending on the modus operandi, the GRP would decide if a case was to be registered. Officials claimed now, each and every case, irrespective of how a passenger loses a phone, gets registered.

On an average, at least 72 cases are registered everyday. With more cases registered, the railway police have also been able to recover more phones. The total worth of recovered phones has gone up from Rs 1.59 crore in 2015 and Rs 1.89 crore in 2016 to Rs 3.32 crore last year.