Getting SIM cards, a child’s play
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Poonch, September 26
Terror threat looms large. Strict instructions go unheard.

Now take a look at some figures: 70 SIM cards were recovered from a youth. Five nabbed for reportedly running a racket of SIM cards and selling them at high rates without documentation.

These arrests and seizures might tell you about the alert policing but there are lapses on various fronts. Every day, there are numerous SIM cards being sold by the agents of service provider’s (BSNL, AIRTEL) without proper documentation.

Who are buying those SIM cards and for what purpose? These questions trigger fears considering recent blasts across India, which involved use of mobile phones.

Various intelligence reports said some of the SIMs may have fallen in the wrong hands (militants), who may be using these for anti-national activities. Getting these cards is an easy job. Go grease the palms of the agents of the service providers and you will get a SIM at triple or quadruple price.

Police sources confirmed: Pre-paid SIM cards of the two services providers, ranging between Rs 150 and Rs 200 are being sold at Rs 600 to Rs 800. BSNL covers almost whole of the district and AIRTEL provides services in almost whole of Surankote area and some parts of Mendhar and Poonch area excluding Poonch town due to border restrictions.

“The agents acquire SIMs from the companies by producing fake address, identity proofs and photographs, which are later sold at high rates,” said a reliable source in the police.

A senior police officer on the condition of anonymity accepted the presence of such nexus. To show the policing act he said: “We were in the process of cracking the same.”

Meanwhile, officials of both the mobile service providers though refuted the allegations about the sale of pre-paid SIM cards at higher rates without producing identity proof, said that they have issued strict instructions to their agents to keep the record of the SIM sold to the subscribers.