UNI

Kolkata, Apr 23: The city police will introduce a device to detect a mobile phone within 24 hours of a complaint received by the agency of its theft.

"The device will help us to detect location of the mobile phone and it will be easier for us to recover the same soon after receiving a complaint," deputy commissioner of police (detective department) Gyanwant Singh said.

"In most cases now the complainants are unable to provide us necessary information like IMEI number, which is crucial for investigation and recovery. Failure to provide the unique 15-digit IMEI number can be linked to ignorance about the number." he said.

Kolkata Police have tied up with an IT company to introduce the technology in the city. However, he refused to name the company, which has prepared the device.

With the number of cellphone connections reaching some 3.5 million mark, the cases of cellphone theft were on the rise.

A Kolkata Police data shows that about 300 complaints are lodged every month with 48 police stations in the city.

A service provider said, "Earlier, we used to receive 10-12 calls a day, but now on an average we receive 50 to 60 such calls per day asking us to block connection due to mobile phone theft."  The number of complaints has increased, but the recovery rate is only around 32 to 40 per cent, Singh said.

According to mobile phone manufacturers, the recovery rate should be much higher as all the cell phones have unique international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) numbers.

A Nokia shop employee in the city said, "A lot of people do not know about the IMEI, which is stored in the handset. We generally tell our customers to preserve the number. But preserving the IMEI is not enough to ensure recovery of cellphones, as the police treat these complaints lightly."

International Mobile Equipment Identity

From Internet sources

The International Mobile Equipment Identity is a number unique to every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. It is usually found printed on the phone underneath the battery and can also be found by dialing the sequence *#06# into the phone.

The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used to stop a stolen phone from accessing the network. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to "ban" the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless, regardless of whether the phone's SIM is changed.

Unlike the Electronic Serial Number or MEID of CDMA and other wireless networks, the IMEI is only used to identify the device, and has no permanent or semi-permanent relation to the subscriber. Instead, the subscriber is identified by transmission of an IMSI number, which is stored on a SIM card which can (in theory) be transferred to any handset. However, many network and security features are enabled by knowing the current device being used by a subscriber.

The IMEI (14 digits plus check digit) or IMEISV (16 digits) includes information on the origin, model, and serial number of the device. The structure of the IMEI/SV are specified in 3GPP TS 23.003. The model and origin comprise the initial 8-digit portion of the IMEI/SV, known as the Type Allocation Code (TAC). The remainder of the IMEI is manufacturer-defined, with a Luhn check digit at the end (which is never transmitted).

As of 2004, the format of the IMEI is AA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-D, although it may not always be displayed this way. The IMEISV drops the Luhn check digit in favour of an additional 2 digits for the Software Version Number (SVN) in the format AA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-EE

Retrieving IMEI information from a GSM device

On many devices the IMEI number can be retrieved by entering *#06#. The IMEI number of a GSM device can be retrieved by sending the command AT+CGSN. For more information refer the 3GPP TS 27.007, Section 5.4 /2/ standards document.

Retrieving IMEI Information from an Ericsson or Sony Ericsson handset can be done by entering these keys: Right * Left Left * Left * (Other service menu items will be presented with this key combination).

The IMEI information can be retrieved from most Nokia mobile phones by pressing *#92702689# (*#WAR0ANTY#), this opens the warranty menu in which the first item is the serial number (the IMEI). The warranty menu also shows other information such as the date the phone was made and the life timer of the phone.

The IMEI can frequently be displayed through phone menus, under a section titled 'System Information', 'Device', 'Phone Info' or similar. Many phones also have the IMEI listed on a label in the battery compartment.