STOLEN IN SECONDS, SOLD WITH NEW IDENTITY
CIA Raids Expose IMEI Patching Rings Fueling Mobile Snatching Epidemic
By: Dr AttaUlWadood
Lahore’s mobile snatching crisis has taken a darker turn, with stolen phones given “new identities” through illegal IMEI patching before hitting markets again.
“I was stuck in traffic at Kalma Chowk when two boys on a bike put a pistol to my window and took my iPhone,” said Zainab Qureshi, 29, a banker from DHA Phase 5. “It had my office data and my daughter’s videos.
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Police said it was patched and sold in Hall Road by evening.
”The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) Lahore says snatching gangs now work directly with technicians who alter the 15-digit IMEI code, making phones untraceable and bypassing PTA’s DIRBS system.
“This is where the real money is,” a CIA Model Town official told Daily Notable. “One laptop, one illegal box, and a snatched phone worth Rs 350,000 sells for Rs 180,000 in hours.
Afterward we’ve raided four patching workshops in Iqbal Town and Shahdara this month alone.”Over 200 patched phones were recovered, including devices snatched from Gulberg, Johar Town, and Model Town.
Nine suspects are in custody, many phones had been reported stolen from Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Dubai.
The three-stage racket is simple: snatch, patch, resell. Patched phones are marketed online and in markets like Hafeez Centre as “PTA-approved” with fake receipts.
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PTA has blocked 90,000 such IMEIs this year, leaving buyers with dead phones and potential charges under Section 411 PPC.Another victim, Usman Tariq, 35, a trader from Ichhra, said his phone was taken at gunpoint near Liberty Market. “I tracked it for an hour. Then it went dead. CIA says the IMEI was changed.”
CIA urges citizens to check IMEIs via #06# and SMS to 8484 before buying. “Cheap phones cost you more than money,” the official warned. “They cost you your safety. ”Report snatching on 15. CIA Lahore Helpline: 042-99200424.
I have a personal experience regarding this issue and still under investigation will share details when investigation will be completed.
