Soon after an alleged official of mobile operator Airtel was detained today for selling forged SIM cards, State Minister for Telecommunication Tarana Halim said the telecom service provider will be penalised for it.

"Airtel has to pay $50 as fine for every fake registered SIMs, and if police finds any involvement of Airtel with the scam, the company will also have to face regulatory fine," the state minister told The Daily Star over phone.

Meanwhile, all the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the country's six mobile phone operators were asked for an urgent meeting tomorrow after the incident of Airtel retailers' detention.

Confirming about the meeting, Tarana said, "We need to find out how things are happening."

She also said that a clinging program for SIM re-registration is coming which will start after Eid vacation.

"SIM re-registration process was a massive but successful task and we can't let it go wasted for some bad elements," the state minister added.

Earlier today, three people, including an alleged official of mobile operator Airtel, were detained on charge of selling SIM cards registered with false information.