The scene unfolded as the country watched in shock. Four masked individuals arrived on motorbikes and taken away a couple’s precious four-year-old child. Dinidu Yashen of Meegalaawa became the talk of the country. While first there was shock and then an agonizing wait, in a few days there was elation as he was found safely by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and to add to it, the four abductors had been nabbed.
While action was to be taken against them, the Police made a shocking revelation. Speaking to media after the rescue, Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana revealed that the Police is also set to file action against the salespersons of a leading mobile service provider, who had sold the perpetrators the SIM cards used in the abduction to communicate among each other and also to contact the child’s parents to illicit a ransom. At the time of writing, a special Police unit is on the hunt for the said salesperson.
According to the Police, the errant salespersons had sold the SIM cards without obtaining proper identification from the kidnappers while issuing the cards using identification details of previous customers. The allegation is one of utmost severity.
Perhaps in an attempt to make a living and obtain the commission paid by the company while achieving set sales targets the salesperson had made a grave mistake unwittingly by aiding the kidnappers for which he will now have to answer to.
The news came at a time when the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) had ordered the cellular phone companies to register all their customers before the end of the year in order to prevent crimes failing which the connections, not registered will be disconnected.
However, while the TRC have made requests for mobiles to be registered to its users time and again to ascertain ownership, the issue still persists and as to how far such requests have been effective, remains doubtful.
However, the system clearly has its flaws. An accepted identification is compulsory for a person to obtain a SIM from a mobile service provider. However, speaking to a number of customers, The Nation learned that this rule is not enforced.
Menaka had once visited a mobile service provider in order to purchase a SIM for a friend and having told this to the customer care officer, she was allowed to purchase a SIM that she later forwarded to her friend. “Having done this, now they ask users to register the numbers they use under their own names,” she said. “Why sell SIMs then to others knowing it is for a third party?” she questions and correctly so.
And while Mobile Service Providers had said that the users could ascertain whether their mobile phone connections were registered by dialing #132# and thereby confirming the existing details, in which way do the companies verify that these confirmed details are in fact authentic?
However, the TRC has issued a severe warning. According to Director General of the TRC Anusha Palpita, non compliance by companies can eventually even mean cancellations of their business license to operate in Sri Lanka. “I doubt they will risk this as billions of rupees invested are at stake,” he said.
One number used was even registered under the name of an unsuspecting porter working in the Fort area who had no inkling that a crime had been committed using a SIM registered in his name. Imagine the poor man’s shock when contacted by the Police regarding the abduction he clearly had no hand in.
And indeed mobile use plays a significant role in crimes today as admitted by the Police spokesman. Criminals are able to operate while in jail thanks to mobile phones while threats, orders and information are delivered in an instant. So much so that the Police has even made a request for mobile signal jammers to be put in place at Mahara Prison due to various rackets being carried out by criminals from within prison walls.
According to the Director General of the TRC, Anusha Palpita, the companies have been very complying. Speaking to The Nation he said that the TRC have requested that the companies should clear their backlog and ensure that all the currently unregistered users are registered before the end of the year. “All the operators have principally agreed to this even though there are a few issues,” he said adding that companies are bound to abide by regulations set by the TRC.
According to Madanayake, a customer of a leading mobile service provider to his shock discovered that two unknown numbers were registered in his name. “I had never purchased them and was therefore confused,” he said. It was only later that he recalled having bought a SIM from a dealer for a friend visiting from abroad for temporary use. “The dealer I bought from had issued two other SIMs to persons using my identification details,” he said adding that he only discovered this when he himself inquired from the company.
Another mobile user, Thilina had a different experience. “I decided to buy a SIM from a street side stall,” he said adding that as he was not able to furnish a copy of his National Identification Card, he was sold the SIM anyway by the salespersons and was requested to forward a copy of it later. On another instance he says that a salesman of a particular provider only jotted the details he provided down before handing him the SIM and called later date to verify the details.
In reality, the situation is one of confusion and leaves one with many questions. The Nation put across a number of questions to mobile service providers such as what have the companies done to better educate customers on the requirement of registration? What is the progress of each company regarding such registrations? What control if at all do the companies have on their agents and sub-agents? What do the companies intend to do to ensure better control?
While the questions were many, the answers have been nothing, but a collective deafening silence at the time of writing. Why the companies have failed to answer such important questions leaves one with many doubts and leaves room for assumptions that could have been avoided with transparency. It is clear that while regulations are implemented, companies are facing a conflict with their business goals, which is obviously more sales revenue.
According to statistics of the TRC, there are 21 million mobile users in the country and how practical is it to in fact verify the details of each user, is therefore a matter to be examined. In hindsight all efforts regarding the matter by stakeholders now only appear to be an effort shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
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