42 held in 44 property offences, assets worth 1.07 crore recovered in December, says Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner

Addressing a press conference as part of the Monthly Crime Mela, Commissioner of Police Shankabratha Bagchi said that 77 property offence cases were reported in the city during December 2025. Special police teams used technical and analytical methods to investigate the cases and detected 44 of them, leading to the arrest of 42 offenders.

He said that property worth ₹56,77,800 was recovered in these cases. Apart from this, 336 missing mobile phones valued at ₹50.40 lakh were also traced and returned to their owners. The total value of property recovered during the month stood at ₹1.07 crore.

Mr. Bagchi said that the 44 detected cases included one robbery, three house break-ins by day, two house break-ins by night, one snatching case, one bus theft and 15 motorcycle theft cases, among others.

The recovered property included 290 grams of gold, 301 grams of silver and ₹1.72 lakh in cash.

As part of preventive measures, 168 CCTV cameras were installed at various locations across the city during December 2025. The crime wing officers also conducted 178 crime meetings to create awareness among the public about different types of crimes and the importance of installing CCTV cameras.

The Commissioner said that special patrolling was conducted in crime-prone areas during both day and night. Drone surveillance was also continued in isolated areas to monitor criminal movements and illegal activities.

According to the city police, a total of 8,875 mobile phones worth ₹13.31 crore have been recovered so far through the chatbot-based stolen or lost mobile recovery programme. The police urged citizens to report lost or stolen mobile phones through the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), an online system of the Department of Telecommunications that helps block and trace missing mobile phones using their IMEI numbers, thereby preventing misuse and improving the chances of recovery.