Police Raid Mobile SIM Card Vendors in Twin Cities

Hyderabad: In the wake of increased use of unverified SIM cards by criminals and anti-social elements, city police on Monday conducted raids on mobile SIM card vendors across Hyderabad to check the process of issuing new numbers.In recent Abhay kidnap and murder case, the culprits used some new SIM cards which were procured by them without submitting ID and address proofs which is mandatory. They called the victim's father to demand ransom even after killing the boy. Though the police were alerted by the time, the culprits could not be traced immediately as the SIM they used did not have any records attached to it.

Officials said the raids were conducted in all areas of twin cities including Jagdish market, Secunderabad, Uppal and Gachibowli to check the process of issuing SIM by authorized dealers as well as roadside vendors. "We have educated them on how to follow the rules strictly so that the cards are not misused by anti-social elements and other petty criminals," an inspector who participated in raids at Malkajgiri said.

The police strictly warned the vendors not to issue SIM cards without collecting proper ID and address proof of the customer.