Secondhand mobile phone dealers complain of harassment

LAHORE: Secondhand mobile phone dealers in areas with a high phone-snatching rate have complained of harassment by the police who frequently accuse them of dealing in stolen phones.

Dealers based in Township, Green Town, Johar Town and WAPDA Town said that in order to prove that they do not deal in stolen phones, they designed a documentation – that every shopkeeper uses to fill before selling any mobile set – with the approval of police. However, they said, the police continue to badger them.

Anjuman Tajir Ittehad (ATI) Green Town president Arif Mehmood Kuku said, “The form we use includes such information as the seller’s name, his CNIC, address, mobile phone number, mobile phone model, IMEI number and its price as well as the name of the salesman. “ Kuku added that the information was mandatory and any shopkeeper who did not fill the form was fined by the body. “We have told the shopkeepers that if they try to conceal information about the people selling the phones or give an incomplete form, we will take action against him,” he said. The ATI president added that there had been a few shopkeepers who had ignored the association’s guidelines.

They had been investigated by the police for buying stolen mobile phones. “The association did not help them because they were in the wrong. However, the police, instead of protecting the ones running a clean business, bother them too,” Kuku said.

“An allegation by a mobile snatcher is all it takes for the police to arrest a shopkeeper and keep him at the police station for a day or two,” he said. Kuku said that the police were also pressuring businessmen to stop dealing in used mobiles altogether. “65 per cent of our customers buy used mobile phones,” he said, “How can we stop dealing in them?” He added that a gigh rate of mobile snatching in the areas did not mean that the snatcher would sell the stolen mobiles in the same area.

Zeeshan Ali, a dealer in Township said, “The police do not listen to the traders. They seem to believe the thieves more readily than they believe us.” Ali said that he recently had to close his shop for a whole day because the police took him in for interrogation. “A thief mentioned my name. When the police came inquiring about the phone, I gave them all details about the man who had sold me the phone,” Ali said.

“But they still took me to the police station. My whole day was wasted,” he said.

Model Town Division Superintendent of Police, Rana Ayaz Saleem, said that the police take action only against those shopkeepers who are thought to be involved in any ‘suspicious’ purchase.

“We only interrogate them if they are suspects.”We do not take action against traders who follow the agreed procedure and who are not involved in purchasing of stolen mobiles,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2010.