Theft-checker

Street crime has been a growing concern – in the urban centres of Pakistan. While Karachi has long been synonymous with robbery and mugging, this menace is now taking root in Islamabad and Lahore also. According to media reports, during the last two weeks, the federal capital — a safe city otherwise — witnessed 48 cases of vehicle theft, 14 cases of armed robbery and 14 incidents of street crime, with citizens losing mobile phones, cash and other valuables worth millions of rupees at gunpoint.

Even though Lahore has witnessed a decline in crime compared with the previous years, the situation is far from satisfactory. In the first two months of 2025, the provincial capital of Punjab recorded 4,686 crime cases, involving theft of 2,111 vehicles, 853 robberies and 839 snatchings.

While street crime has so far been unstoppable, a mobile phone app developed by Punjab police with the help of Punjab Information Technology Board offers hope — at least to the extent of crime involving mobile phone snatching.

The e-Gadget Monitoring System of police is designed to track down and recover stolen or lost mobile phones. The system requires the mobile phone traders to register themselves using the e-Gadget app and store the IMEI numbers of each mobile phone in their possession so that the police might access their database when looking for a stolen gadget. Also, the traders and shopkeepers will have to seek police clearance through the app before initiating a sale or purchase process.

The recent recovery of more than 100 mobile phones, including iPhones, using the digital app substantiates the police claim of the e-gadget already turning out to be a game-changer. This also calls for equipping the police with more such technology rather than continuing to investigate crime by traditional, outdated ways.