NAROWAL/GUJRANWALA, July 30: The sale of cell phone SIMs without keeping any record of actual users is adding to crimes from kidnapping for ransom to blackmailing of people.

SIMs of all cell phone companies are readily available at shops, departmental stores, medical stores and public call offices in Narowal and its surrounding areas. It is at anybody’s discretion to buy as much cell phone connections/SIMs without being registered at these outlets.

These SIMs activated just by loading a pre-paid scratch card could be used to make calls anywhere or anybody without being identified.

Such SIMs are being used in crimes of different nature, the most common being the kidnap for ransom cases, as kidnappers used it fearlessly for making their demands to families of victims.

These SIMs are also in great demand among unscrupulous elements who use them for teasing girls and housewives on their mobiles and landline telephones.

This illegal practice of cell phone companies, going unchecked, has become a cause of serious concern for citizens.

Customer centers of cell phone companies never bother to respond to complaints for this malpractice.

Narowal’s Human Rights Association vice-president Mian Muhammad Rafique said that mobile phone companies should strictly follow government’s instructions of selling connections only after proper identification of users.

Social and political circles have also strongly condemned this illegal practice of cell phone companies and demanded that the authorities concerned should take stock of the situation.

In Gujranwala, various cellular companies have set up their offices in different parts of the city where illegal trade of SIMs is going on without any check.

Relatively a safe mean to intimidate people, criminals are using these SIMs in committing crimes like kidnap for ransom and receiving protection money.

The arrested criminals, who had kidnapped for ransom sons of a bank manager in Sialkot, gave out during investigation that they had purchased SIMs from a PCO without submitting their identity cards.

Taking a serious note of it, DPO Mian Muhammad Asif has warned cellular companies that strict action would be taken against them if they continue issuing SIMs to customers without estblishing their identity.

No representative of any cell phone operator was ready to speak on the issue.