The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence is worried that fake registration of mobile phone SIMs, especially by criminals, will increase in the near future amid the current political crisis.
It has also requested the mobile phone operators to immediately block use of internet-based communication software to prevent criminals from communicating without being traced.
In letters to the home and telecom ministries, the agency said on October 22: “Different sources have confirmed that efforts are on to carry out subversive activities through mobile phone networks given the country’s current political situation.”
The DGFI worries have come at a time when threats over mobile phone networks have seen an increasing trend with targets ranging from common business people to even the home minister. In most cases, the callers go untraced mainly because of unregistered SIMs and the absence of the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) barring to detect handsets.
The letters signed by Brig Gen Rashedul Mannan on behalf of the director general said the cheap price of mobile SIMs allowed criminals to change their numbers frequently and this would increase significantly in near future.
The DGFI requested the authorities concerned to take necessary actions to ensure real registration of mobile phone users.
Police and other security agencies had earlier expressed similar concerns.
Police said fake SIMs had been used mainly for extortion along with other crimes but this time it might also be used to create political anarchy.
An official of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) said the commission had so far blocked 1.5m SIMs for fake registration upon complaints from Rapid Action Battalion and police.
When contacted on Wednesday, BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose told the Dhaka Tribune that the “open source” communication software was a problem and the commission had decided to talk about it with the operators.
He said the approval for this software had been given before he joined the BTRC, and the commission now needed to review under which situation the permission had been given.
On fake registration of SIMs, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman recently told the Dhaka Tribune: “When we contact operators about fake registration they say retailers have not yet sent back the registration forms, so they cannot offer any details.”
Police observe that in most cases old SIMs are properly registered but the new connections are not.
Mobile operators, however, claimed that they had no access to the national database which is under the Election Commission – and they had no alternative tools to detect real identification.
“The government has to decide whether it wants the fake users to be removed from the networks. As we have only national ID cards for people’s identity, the mobile operators should have access to the database,” said TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh.
He said they had written about it to the BTRC and the home ministry.
Another source said the telecom regulator at its meeting on October24. had also decided to emplement the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) barring to detect handsets.
“We will need to consult with the mobile operators about it – if we can emplement it, it will also ensure our security,” the BTRC chairman said.
But Nurul Kabir said the IMEI barring is a tool to ensure security but SIM registration should be real before that.
Earlier in 2008, the BTRC ran a re-registration campaign for SIMs but as there was no credible ID card the drive was not effective.
