66 mobile phones stolen every day in Mumbai local trains

At least 66 mobile phones got stolen every day on Mumbai's suburban rail network last year, and the thefts were valued at Rs 2.99 crore, a latest data released by the Government Railway Police revealed.

The suburban rail network is spread over 350 km from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Khopoli and Kasara on the Central line, CSMT to Panvel on Harbour line and Churchgate to Dahanu on Western line.

Nearly 80 lakh commuters travel in suburban trains every day, apart from lakhs of outstation train passengers.

According to the data, as many as 24,010 cases of phone thefts were registered at 17 GRP police stations last year, which means on an average, 66 phones were stolen from trains everyday.

As many as 32,476 such cases were registered in 2018, which on an average comes to 88 such cases everyday, the GRP stats confirmed.

As per the data, the value of the mobile phones stolen in 2019 is Rs 2.99 crore, while those stolen in 2018 were valued at Rs 3.09 crore.

The highest number of mobile phone thefts occurred in the jurisdiction of Kurla, Thane and Borivali GRP police stations in 2019, the data revealed.

At least 2,500 cases of mobile phone thefts were registered at these police stations, with Kurla topping the list with 3,306 cases.

Interestingly, according to GRP officials, the recovery rate of stolen phones is less than 10 per cent, with only 2,319found in 2019 and 2,517 in 2018.

Overall 5,724 persons, including 234 minors, were arrested for mobile thefts in 2019.