Islamabad: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Zonal Office in Rawalpindi, working alongside the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing, has successfully carried out raids on three locations in Hasan Abdal, Wah, and Rawalpindi targeting franchisees of a mobile phone company and an illegal SIM registration vendor. These raids were conducted due to suspicions of these sales channels being involved in the illegal issuance of SIM cards.
During the operations, a total of 3,550 pre-active SIMs, 3 BVS devices, 748 silicon thumbs, 11,000 digital fingerprints, and a printer were seized by the authorities. Additionally, three individuals were apprehended by the FIA team on the premises, and FIRs have been filed against them. Presently, the FIA is conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.
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Prior to these raids, PTA had lodged a complaint with the FIA regarding the illegal issuance of SIMs by these sales channels, based on gathered information. These raids are part of PTA’s ongoing efforts to combat the evasion of the Multi-Finger Biometric Verification System (MBVS).
