LAHORE, Aug 4: Police are allegedly harassing authorised retailers of cellular companies for bribes in a crackdown on illegal sales of SIMs across the province.

Police have arrested a large number of retailers of different cellular companies since July 10 when they launched a crackdown on them at the orders of the Home Department.

The department authorised police to arrest only those retailers selling SIMs without getting registered with it. But police in many cases reportedly took money from ‘genuine retailers’ to spare them from the ‘action’.

In a July 10 letter to all regional police officers, capital police officers, district police officers, district coordination officers, town municipal officers and the capital police officer of Lahore, the department said the sale of SIMs other than the company’s customer sale centers, registered franchises and registered retailers was an offence.

“All illegal SIMs points should be closed down and the offenders be apprehended,” it said.

Police arrested many retailers who even had ‘registration certificates’ of the cellular companies. The police however maintained that it would only accept the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA)’s certificate in this regard.

When the PTA clarified to the Home Department that it “does not issue registration certificate to retailers as it has authorised the companies to issue the same (to retailers)” the department on July 15 issued another letter to all concerned, asking them to only arrest those retailers who were not registered with cell companies.

According to some cellular companies, police are flouting the orders and retailers have no forum to redress their grievances.

Hasan Raza, local retailer, said police were not accepting the company’s certificate of which SIMs they were selling. “Policemen ask us to grease their palms or face an FIR,” he alleged.

A PTA official told Dawn it was unfortunate the police were misinterpreting the order. He said the authority had taken up the matter with the home department.