Cuttack, Dec. 24: Police seized 103 pre-activated SIM cards that had been issued with forged documents and arrested 11 persons while raiding various places in the city in the past 24 hours.
In a similar drive in Bhubaneswar, 200 pre-activated SIM cards were seized and 13 people were arrested during the day.
The drive to check the sale of pre-activated SIM cards assumes significance, especially in the backdrop of the arrest of Abdul Rahman, 37, for his suspected links with terror outfit al Qaida in Indian Subcontinent from Jagatpur on December 16. The pre-activated SIM cards are available in the market at prices ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 250 per card. Criminals often buy the cards by submitting forged documents, which has now emerged as a major concern for the police.
"As part of our ongoing drive to check the illegal use and sale of prepaid SIM cards, a special enforcement drive was launched in Cuttack yesterday. Eleven persons have been arrested so far," said deputy commissioner of police Sanjeev Arora.
The raids were conducted on mobile phone shops at Chauliaganj, Baranga, CDA, Lalbagh and Mangalabag areas. Some 38 pre-activated SIM cards were seized from one shop called Jagannath Communication Store at Mangalabag. The shop owner, Surya Kalandi, who is a BTech graduate, was arrested for issuing pre-activated SIM cards to various persons with forged documents. He used to keep a copy of the original identity proofs of the customers and later used the same set of documents to activate SIM cards of other service providers and sell them to others at an exorbitant price.
Arora said the rampant use of the pre-activated SIM cards indicated that there was laxity in enforcement of legal provisions and guidelines on the sides of both the retailers and the service providers. The police had earlier issued a warning to various retailers not to sale pre-activated SIM cards without verifying the customers' details. "We will write to the mobile service provider companies to ensure that no SIM card is activated without verifying the documents," Arora said.
