Criminals using Chinese device to activate SIM cards, AIG Hayat tells SC bench. PHOTO: FILE
The Supreme Court (SC) formed a task force on Friday to tackle the spread of illegal SIMs that play a key role in most crimes in the city.
The task force will comprise representatives of all provincial governments, Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, police DIGs from each province and representatives of the five private cellular companies. A larger SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and comprising justices Jawwad Khawaja, Mian Saqib Nisar, Amir Hani Muslim and Ejaz Afzal Khan, made this decision at the suo motu hearing of the Karachi law and order case.
In earlier hearings too, the apex court had pointed out that the use of unauthorised SIMs by terrorists and criminals is a major cause of unrest. It ordered the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and private cellular service providers to come up with a temporary arrangement to get rid of this menace, and then take steps to remove the problem permanently.
On Thursday, Karachi AIG Shahid Hayat disclosed in the court that criminals are using a special device smuggled from China to activate unauthorised SIMs under the names of innocent residents and using them in crimes, such as kidnappings and extortion. “If the issue of illegal mobile SIMs is tackled, kidnappings and extortion would drop by at least 50 per cent,” said Hayat, waving an ordinary cellphone with a small black device.
The SC bench accepted the temporary formulae worked out by the PTA chief, Syed Ismail Shah, who was made the head of the task force.
Limiting imports
The PTA will also keep a check on the types of phones being imported. Customs authorities will have to ensure only phones with proper IMEI numbers are given clearance. The PTA chief will conduct regular meetings, either in Islamabad or at any other PTA headquarters, where the members will submit their suggestions. Progress reports will be sent to the court, as well as the provincial and federal governments within three weeks, the order stated.
Commission on import duties
Attorney General Munir A Malik and Advocate General Khalid Javed Khan submitted a recommendation to appoint a commission that will ensure 100 per cent recovery of the taxes and duties on imports. The commission members will conduct surprise raids on Customs offices at the ports, conduct audits, and physically inspect the goods thus assessed before such goods leave the premises.
This commission will also conduct a post-gate inspection of goods and compare them to the assessments made on respective goods declarations. It will also recommend strategies on how to achieve 100 per cent recovery of collections.
The apex court directed Malik and Khan to nominate judicial, technical and accounting members before December 3 to the SC registrar so the court can pass an order.
Seized arms
Customs chief collector filed a summary of the arms imported and the inspection records from July 2010 to October this year. The report was given to the Rangers director-general and the police IG.
The advocate general informed the judges that an effective strategy to recover illicit arms and ammunition has already been made and they are hoping to make remarkable achievements. He did not, however, disclose the strategy in public interest.
“The law enforcing agencies are also undertaking an exercise to obtain a declaration from the arms licence holders swearing that they are not in possession of any unauthorised arms and ammunition,” said Khan.
He will submit a report on progress in recovering arms and ammunitions by the next hearing.
Here’s what the task force will do:
1. Not more than two SIMs are activated per IMEI every day.
2. No one can have more than five SIMs per IMEI.
3. All cellular companies will call people who have more than 10 SIMs registered and answer a secret question (such as mother’s name or place of birth). Those who answer correctly will be asked to reduce their SIMs to five. All other SIMs will be blocked.
4. Cellular companies and PTA will identify numbers that seem suspicious due to usage or location and block them if their secret information is not verified.
5. Companies will keep strict checks on their retailers and franchises.
6. PTA will approve certain types of phones only.
7. Customs authorities will not allow import of phones without proper IMEIs.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2013.
COMMENTS (7)
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The ideas expressed by Pakistani patriots are useful and effective. ET now you have to do your share of work. Compile the ideas and send them to Syed Ismail Shah, head of the Task Force.
This is a suggestion to the Government of Pakistan and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to follow a procedure that has been recently implemented in Saudi Arabia to eliminate the menace of anonymous SIM cards. Under the system implemented by the telecom authority in Saudi Arabia in 2012, entering a user’s ID card number together with a prepaid scratch card number is mandatory to charge a cell phone’s credit or transfer money from the user’s credit to that of another subscriber. To elaborate, a consumer is required to enter his ID or Iqama (for expats) number immediately after entering the prepaid card number to recharge the phone’s credit. With this system it is not possible to recharge without entering the ID number. Importantly, it is not possible either to charge or transfer credit if the users do not enter the same ID or Iqama number that they had submitted at the time of obtaining the mobile phone connection. Therefore, the ID number and information of a subscriber must be correct and updated in the database of the mobile phone company. Consumers i.e. both locals and legal expatriates now as a matter of routine enter their ID or Iqama numbers at the time of recharging their phone’s credit. However, illegal residents can no longer recharge credit on their mobile connections. Also consumers are now more conscious to ensure that no SIMs have been issued on their ID that is being illegally used by someone else.
Implementing this system in Pakistan will have several advantages. Firstly, consumers will be forced to rectify or update their NIC information in the database of their telecom operators because without it credit will not be able to be loaded on their phones. Secondly, illegal mobile phone subscribers used by criminals and non-state elements will be prevented going forward from using their mobile connections because they will not have any mobile phone credit. As such these SIMS will be automatically deactivated after six months.
Two Options
Option 1. Start blocking prepaid sims serial wise and ask affected people to verify and get their SIMS unblocked at designated authorised PTA-mobile operator offices. This way all unaccounted for SIMS will be taken care of. Start with say 0300 0xxxxxx numbers ...and so on and so forth. Allow SIM of every serial number a weeks time to re-activate or else block it permanently. Complete each serial exercise in one week and you can get done with the whole activity probably in a few months.
Option 2. Block all prepaid sims indefinitely.
Is this a court or an office of secretary interior?
I fear that the commission set up by the SC will be overwhelmed by the volume of work involved. It is therefore important to design a solution that allows thousands of citizens to deliver voluntary help. This will involve putting some of the documents, properly scanned to hide some information, on the Net and let the public with computers do the work of comparing and identifying suspect sets.