Over 163,000 illegal SIMs blocked in Pakistan: PTA

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked 163,200 illegal SIMs so far across the country, ARY News reported quoting PTA.

According to documents, the PTA has permanently deactivated 6.43 million inactive SIMs in a crackdown against illegal and fake SIMs in Islamabad.

Additionally, 2.989 million SIMs registered under the identity cards of deceased individuals have been blocked. The authority also blocked 171 SIMs registered under the names of unrelated women in new districts and 69,246 SIMs linked to canceled identity cards.

Furthermore, 783,000 SIMs associated with over 360,000 expired identity cards have been blocked, as per PTA documents.

The PTA has intensified its monitoring and actions against fake SIMs. Across the country, 62 raids were conducted, resulting in the arrest of 72 individuals involved in the illegal sale of SIMs.

During these raids, 193 illegal biometric devices and 11,470 SIMs were seized. Additionally, over 296,000 digital fingerprints linked to fake biometric data were confiscated, according to documents.

Also read: NADRA to block SIMs on expired CNICs

The PTA has introduced a new multi-finger biometric verification system and installed over 185,000 live finger devices nationwide.

Unauthorized retailers have been banned, and only verified service centers are permitted to sell SIMs. To prevent fraud, the PTA has also increased the mandatory time interval for the sale of new SIMs.

In a separate development, the National Database and Registration Authority decided to immediately block the mobile SIMs issued against expired or fake CNICs.

The decision was taken during a high-level meeting chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi at the NADRA Headquarters.

According to the decision, all SIMs issued on expired CNICs in 2017 or earlier will be blocked in the first phase.

In the next phases, the same policy will be applied to SIMs issued on CNICs cancelled after 2017, as per the decision.