KARACHI: Cell phone companies are sharing call data and other record of their subscribers with police for the “investigation of high-profile cases” though the law enforcement agency is not allowed to get the facility that is available only to intelligence agencies, it emerged on Monday.

Sources in the cell phone companies and Sindh police officials confirmed to Dawn that the two sides had been cooperating with each other as per an “understanding” they had reached a few months ago.

“We don’t approach them [the companies] for every single criminal case but only while investigating high-profile or major terrorism case we do that,” said a police official.

He added the facility helped them track down culprits fast that was crucial these days.

In July, he said, the Sindh police reached an ‘understanding’ with the mobile phone service providers to access call data record and location of their subscribers through global system for mobile communication (GSM) as well as geo-fencing facility.

“The police authorities and top officials of Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Warid and Zong reached the understanding during a meeting at the Central Police Office,” said a senior executive of a cellular company. “It was decided that a focal persons be appointed for all police units to remove bottlenecks in this regard to ensure smooth flow of information and timely action against terrorists and criminal elements.”

He said access to subscribers’ data geo-fencing, officially, remained an exclusive privilege of the spy agencies, while the police could not get a nod from the interior ministry or assistance from the powerful intelligence apparatus for that purpose.

“Geo-fencing in a security strategy model provides security to wireless local area networks,” said a cell phone company executive. “It’s a modern technology being used by the investigators across the world and that could only be done through cell phone companies assistance. The police engage the companies in high-profile cases. The interior ministry has not yet allowed it but the police are implementing it by reaching an understanding with the companies.”

Access to call record data and location of subscribers for police investigation purpose has been a long-standing demand of the law enforcement agency.

In 2008, the mobile phone companies and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had refused to allow such a privilege to the police, insisting that they could share the facility with the intelligence agencies only.

When a senior official was asked about the legality and mechanism of accessing subscribers’ data and getting geo-fencing facility from the mobile phone companies after it was denied to the police by the interior ministry, he said it was just ‘an understanding’ between the law enforcement agency and mobile phone companies ‘for the time being’.

“One needs to understand that we are not going to adopt it or exploit it,” he said.

“It’s only being practised for investigations into high-profile cases which badly require technological assistance. The police have properly appointed focal persons for that purpose and the telecoms watchdog also keeps a check over the process,” the official argued.

Published in Dawn, September 29th , 2015

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