21 held for SIM scam
Police have detained 21 people, including three employees of Airtel, for selling pre-activated and biometrically registered SIM cards from the capital's Adabor and Shyamoli.
During primary interrogation, some of the detainees, who worked at the field level, admitted that they were forced to register SIMs illegally, Biplab Kumar Sarkar, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told a press briefing at his office yesterday.
“The company [Airtel] didn't issue any official letter. They [detainees] were pressurised to register SIMs illegally,” the DC quoted the detainees as saying.
Following the incident, State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim called an emergency meeting with the chief executive officers of six mobile operators yesterday.
Contacted, Airtel's Chief Service Officer Rubaba Dowla said the company would do everything to ensure compliance.
Shamit Shahabuddin, head of public relations of Airtel, told The Daily Star that they would cooperate with the police in their investigation.
The government made mandatory the biometric registration of all SIMs, which started on December 16 last year and ended on May 31 this year. After the deadline expired, some unscrupulous retailers and distributors started to sell pre-activated SIM cards which are biometrically re-registered.
As of May 31, six mobile phone operators re-registered 11.60 crore SIMs out of 13.26 crore active connections at that time. Industry insiders, however, said that as many as 7 crore connections are active in the market.
Police were trying to get the details of the officials of the mobile service provider, said DC Biplab.
He, however, did not disclose the names and details of the three detained Airtel staff. A press release provided to this correspondent by the DC office also does not mention the names of any detainees.
On Tuesday evening, the DC told The Daily Star over the phone that police detained some distributors of Airtel from Adabor and Shyamoli areas.
He also said they found a list of thousands of mobile phone numbers which are biometrically verified but do not belong to the actual owners at present.
As per rules, fingerprints have to be taken only once, but some of the detainees admitted that they did it for three to four times while registering SIMs, Biplab said yesterday.
The additional fingerprints were used to illegally register other SIMs, he said, adding that some unscrupulous distributors sold these pre-activated SIMs through their agents.
Police and the officials of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) were quizzing the detainees. A process of taking legal actions against them was underway, the DC said.
AIRTEL MAY FACE FINE
BTRC Legal and License Commissioner Jahurul Haque said Airtel might face a huge amount of fine if it was found to be involved in the incident.
He said the regulator could fine up to Tk 300 crore for compliance issues.
The BTRC will issue show-cause notice to Airtel, and fining the mobile operator will come after that, the BTRC official added.
State Minister Tarana Halim said that for every fake registered SIM card, Airtel has to pay $50 as fine. If police find the company's involvement in the incident, it will also have to face regulatory fine.
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