13,000 mobile phones running on same IMEI number in India

MEERUT : Making it tougher to track and identify stolen mobile phones, the police in Uttar Pradesh has found there are more than 13,000 handsets in India running on the same unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity).

The Meerut police has registered a FIR against a mobile phone manufacturing company and its service centre after it was found that over 13,500 mobile phones in the country were running on the same IMEI.

The matter surfaced, after a police personnel gave his mobile phone to the staff at cyber crime cell for examination, as the new phone was not working properly despite being repaired, Meerut SP (city) Akhilesh N Singh said.