A special team of Bangladesh telephone regulator seized unregistered SIM cards and illegally imported electronic devices from a shop in Uttara of Dhaka this evening.
A team of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) detained two persons from the outlet of popular cellphone store Gadget & Gear at North Tower in Section 4 of Uttara around 8:00pm who were released a couple of hours later.
Officials of BTRC seized 167 pre-activated SIM (subscriber identity module) cards and 24 illegally imported electronic and communication devices including Tabs, iPads and mobile phone sets from G&G, a BTRC director told The Daily Star.
The owner of the shop was also fined Tk 50, 000, the official said.
Among the 167 pre-activated SIM cards, 17 were of Grameenphone, 100 Banglalink, 26 Airtel and 24 Robi.
The officials were preparing to file a case in this connection, he added.
Mobile operators cannot sell pre-activated connections as the telecom regulator several years back introduced a raft of measures to tighten the registration process to fight crimes committed using cellphones.
According to BTRC, mobile operators were barred from purchase and sales of all kinds of pre-activated SIM and RUIM (removable user identity module) and were supposed to withdraw them from the market.