NSW: Mobile phone theft soars in NSW

AAP General News (Australia)
04-11-2001
NSW: Mobile phone theft soars in NSW

SYDNEY, April 11 AAP - Mobile phone theft is soaring in New South Wales and research
shows stolen phones are increasingly being used by drug dealers.

The study by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found mobile phone thefts
had increased by 100 per cent over the past three years from about 19,000 robberies in
1998 to about 40,000 last year.

Bureau director Dr Don Weatherburn said an ongoing project in Sydney's west and south
west involved interviewing drug dealers.

"One of the questions we ask them is the means by which you contact your seller or
your buyer, and one of the most common answers is by mobile phone and you can see the
advantage from their point of view," he said.

"Instead of having to tout on the street, you contact the person by mobile phone and
make an arrangement for a place where you feel secure."

He said mobile phones were harder to intercept and most people broke into cars to steal them.

MORE sal/rp/sp

KEYWORD: MOBILES

2001 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.