Cellphone retailers across the country have joined the fight against cellphone theft by announcing the creation of an association (ADUTICEL) to stop the erasing of serial numbers and stop the activation of cellphones that have been reported stolen.

Dominican Telecom Institute (Indotel) president Jose Rafael Vargas has nothing but praise for the initiative taken by the group and will meet with them on Monday to implement measures that will prevent activation of stolen phones. He emphasized that the entire community must be involved in the elimination of this practice but said that the retailers can become the first line of defence in stopping this criminal activity.

ADUTICEL will join the retailers with police, the Justice Ministry, Indotel and lending companies in the fight against illegal activation of stolen cellphones.

While other measures taken have resulted in the decline of cellphone theft over the last few months this criminal activity has resulted in several senseless deaths already.