J-K Police seize SIMs from suspected militants

In the first major security breach since the ban on prepaid cellphone connections was lifted in Jammu and Kashmir,the police have seized over two dozen SIM cards....

In the first major security breach since the ban on prepaid cellphone connections was lifted in Jammu and Kashmir,the police have seized over two dozen Subscribers Identity Module (SIM) cards which they said were meant for suspected militants.

Police says the SIM cards of four private telecom operators Airtel,Aircel,Idea and Tata Indicom were recovered from two active Over Ground workers (OGWs) on April 6 in Kupwara.

Police says the detained OGWs had procured SIMs in south Kashmirs Pulwama district and were travelling to Kupwara in a Sumo when a police team intercepted them. The police also recovered five mobile phone sets from them. This is the first time that police have come across SIM cards being smuggled by suspected militants from south Kashmir to north Kashmir.

The two active OGWs identified as Owais Ahmed Wani and Owais Bashir are from south Kashmirs Pulwama district. They had procured SIMs of four telecom companies in Pulwama and had to hand them over to militants in Kupwara. But we got an input and arrested them at Sogam, Superintendent of police,Kupwara,Mohammad Yousuf Mir told The Indian Express. We also arrested the driver of the Sumo for questioning.

The Union Home Minister,P Chidambaram had recently expressed his concern regarding the re-verification process for the pre-paid SIMs. Chidambaram had asked how the telecom operators verified lakhs of SIMs in merely 25 days.

Police have registered a case against the OGWs and the concerned telecom companies. We registered a case under Section 13 of the Unlawful Act and 102 (b) of RPC involving all the accused including the telecom companies, police said. The police have also constituted a team to investigate whether proper verification was carried out by the telecom companies before issuing the SIMs.

The Home Ministry had in November 2009 banned prepaid connections in the state in view of security concerns. However,the ban was lifted on January 21 after a foolproof plan was finalised by the Ministry to ensure proper verification for prepaid cellphone subscribers.