Delhi: 22,882 lost, stolen mobile phones found, returned to owners this year

At least 88 people, whose mobile phones were either snatched, robbed, stolen or misplaced, got their cellphones back every day this year, as the Delhi Police have recovered and returned 22,882 lost and stolen phones to their rightful owners till September 15, senior police officers said on Thursday.

With 3,010 phones returned to their owners, the southwest district police topped the list of 15 police district and four other police units – crime branch, railways, metro and Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport – in terms of tracing recovering, and returning stolen and lost mobile phones under the Delhi Police’s special drive named “Operation Vishwas.”

The IGI Airport police remained at the bottom of the list by returning only 51 stolen phones to their rightful owners till September 15, according to the Delhi Police data accessed by HT.

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CEIR reports help police trace lost phones

Data shows that the police force received 69,881 mobile handset traceability reports from the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), a portal that allows people across India to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones.

“The CEIR regularly shares information about mobile phones reported to law enforcement agencies as lost and stolen phones whenever new SIM cards are installed in the handsets and they become active again anywhere across the country. In Delhi, each police district and concerned unit receives the traceability report separately and according to cases registered in the particular district or unit,” said a senior police officer, aware of the procedures related to recovery of stolen phones.

Police data shows that between January 1 and September 15 this year, the railways unit of the city police received the maximum 9,001 mobile handset traceability reports from the CEIR followed by Dwarka police station and the Metro police unit that received 7,089 and 6,567 such handset traceability reports. The IGI Airport and crime branch units received the lowest such reports that were 92 and 937 respectively, the data shows.

Mobile phone loss reports and recovery rates

According to police, nearly 1,50,000 mobile phones were reported lost, stolen, snatched or robbed in the first seven months of 2026. Last year, the number was around 2,50,000. The Delhi Police have two dedicated digital platforms – Lost App and Theft e-FIR apps and web services – that allow people to report their lost or stolen mobile phones on their own and without visiting police stations.

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Police returned nearly 87% of recovered phones

The city police’s data shows that the police handed over nearly 87% of the recovered phones to their rightful numbers till September 15, with the northwest, Shahdara, and southeast districts and railways and metro police units achieving 100% handover rate, meaning all phones recovered during the period were returned to their owners.

“Recovering stolen phones and returning them to their owners has been on the priority list of the city police. Operation Vishwas was launched with the aim to restore the public’s faith in the city police, snatching and theft of phones is a common crime that affects hundreds of people daily. Each police district and unit has a specialised team for this job,” another police officer said, asking not to be named.