Kottayam: Kottayam Police have recovered mobile phones from West Bengal, Assam and Bihar following the drive to retrieve phones stolen from the district. The perpetrators sent the phones in a courier to the address of the district cyber cell.

Yesterday, District Police Chief A. Shahul Hameed returned 74 phones that had gone missing from various parts of the district. The Police were able to track down the thieves when they attempted to use the stolen phones with new SIM cards.

A system that alerts the cyber police station when a new SIM card is inserted into a phone helped crack the phone lifters. The police contacted the numbers used by the thieves, threatened with legal action if the phones weren't returned. This produced immediate effect and phones, including those travelled to other states, were send back.

Mary Bino, who does tailoring work, had her phone stolen while she was being treated for fever at the medical college. Mary, who frequently writes on social media, had a completed a screenplay and a novel on her lost phone. Discussions were underway to cast film star Shweta Menon in the completed screenplay.

Mary filed a complaint at the medical college aid post after losing her phone. Upon receiving her phone back, she said she had never experienced such immense happiness. Shruty also lost her phone at the medical college. It was a phone she had bought with her first salary.

What to do when a phone is lost
Obtain a duplicate SIM card for the lost phone using your Aadhaar card. This needs to be registered on the Central Equipment Identity Register portal of the Department of Telecommunications. An 18-digit number will be provided to the complainant from the portal. Following this, a complaint should be filed at the cyber police station.

If the stolen phone is used again with a different SIM card, this 18-digit number will help the cyber cell to identify it.