IANS
Chandigarh, May 25
To curb the menace of issuing SIM cards on pretend identities, a serious safety menace, the Punjab Police have gotten blocked over 1.8 lakh SIM cards activated utilizing pretend identities and forged paperwork, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav stated on Thursday.
In one case 500 SIM cards have been issued with the identical {photograph} however in several names by forging paperwork.
The Internal Security Wing in affiliation with the Department of Telecom had begun a crackdown towards distributors and brokers promoting SIM cards on pretend identities.
Yadav stated: “Action is being initiated towards level of gross sales distributors, brokers and different individuals concerned in issuing SIM cards on pretend IDs.”
The police have arrested 17 individuals, who have been discovered concerned within the sale of SIM cards on pretend paperwork, moreover registering 52 FIRs within the final three days.
Special DGP (Internal Security) R.N. Dhoke stated that he had held a number of conferences with the Department of Telecom and telecom service suppliers. Subsequent to that motion was taken.
He stated Inspector General of Police (Counter Intelligence) Rakesh Agrawal has been made the nodal officer and a drive is on to additional establish the SIM cards issued on pretend IDs.
The particular DGP additionally warned retailers of strict motion for failing to adjust to the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, a lapse that resulted within the activation of 1000’s of SIM cards fraudulently.
“Special groups of the Counter Intelligence Wing have been coordinating with the district police to zero in on SIM card retailers, who activated completely different cell phone numbers with the identical proof of identification,” he stated, including that also they are taking on the matter with the telecom authorities to blacklist such brokers.