Staff Reporter :The government has again instructed the mobile phone operators to stop vendors from selling Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards without proper identification in a bid to curb crimes through cell phones.”We will go tough against the sale of unregistered SIMs. A subscriber must submit photo copies of either national identity card or passport or driving licence or certificates from Union Parishad Chairman,’ State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan told journalists recently at his secretariat.He said, the lawmen could easily track down the persons issuing threats for extortions or committing other crimes through cell phones if the dealers had the proper identification documents of the mobile phone subscribers.Retailers, allegedly in association with the mobile phone companies, are still selling pre-activated SIM cards in the capital, violating laws and, therefore, lending a helping hand to criminals.Police said, they were facing problems in tracking criminals because of registration of SIM cards with fake addresses. In the wake of rising incidents of crime, such as issuing threats and extortions through cell phones, the home ministry on several occasions in the past directed the operators to comply with the law in selling SIM cards.To avert the situation, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) is going to sign a deal with Election Commission (EC) to use the National Identity Card database server to contain registration and use of mobile phone SIM cards using fake names and identities, BTRC sources said.After signing the deal, the mobile phone operators can enter the NID database server which will help them crosscheck the validity of the NID card of a SIM card buyer.BTRC Secretary Md Sarwar Alam said, the government is going to sign a deal with the EC within a very short time.Currently, mobile phone operators have no scope to scrutinise the papers and NID cards of their customers. The EC said there are approximately 9.62 crore voters’ data in their NID server and the number is going to increase after Ramadan, sources said.
