India, Nov. 5 -- A city is facing what authorities are calling an "epidemic of phone thefts," with the Metropolitan Police Service (Met Police) accusing Apple of turning a blind eye to a national database meant to stop the trade-in of stolen iPhones.

According to The Telegraph, the police department has informed Members of Parliament (MPs) that Apple "already has access to NMPR and uses it daily to check the network status of trade-in devices, but does not check for theft or take action." The claim suggests that thieves are exploiting Apple's trade-in programme to receive credit for stolen devices.

The National Mobile Property Register (NMPR) is a UK-wide database used by law enforcement to identify and return stolen devices. Police all...