In Singapore, a Mobile phone stolen every 2 hours

A cellphone is stolen from its owner in Singapore every two hours in a widening criminal obsession with slick and expensive mobiles, police data said on Sunday, reports the Bangkok Post.

"From 3,411 cellphones stolen in 2004, the figure climbed to 3,748 in the first nine months of last year with the total expected to fall just below 5,000.

Nicking cellphones is regarded as the "crime of our times", social workers told The Sunday Times. It has reached the point where thugs do not even bother asking for the wallets of those they are robbing.

Fuelling the surge in cellphone thefts is the insatiable market for cheap second-hand phones, making the sale of the stolen ones very lucrative, police said.

emily | 11:59 AM | Random Stats |
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