Bangladesh News

The government is considering enactment of a law to curb crimes committed by using mobile phones, said Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday.

A high-powered committee headed by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Brig Gen (retd) Zia Ahmed was formed yesterday to recommend measures in 15 days for checking such crimes.

The move came in the wake of widespread threats and intimidation by criminals who demand money over the phone using names of high-profile criminals.

The committee includes representatives from all mobile phone operators, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and National Security Intelligence (NSI), police and the home and communications ministries.

“Criminals have been using mobile phones for committing crimes for a long time. If necessary, we shall enact a law to stop it,” Sahara told journalists after a meeting for discussing the issue at the home ministry.

Representatives from mobile phone operators, police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), DGFI, NSI, and BTRC were also present.

“We are committed to curbing crimes to ensure public security. We have formed the committee as part of the move to check crimes committed using mobile phones,” she added.

The meeting observed that a large number of mobile SIM cards have been used for committing various crimes including extortion. Some suggested that producing national identity cards should be made mandatory for buying SIM cards, said sources.

The home minister said mobile phone trackers will be introduced to track down the criminals.

Replying to a query, she said the national probe committee’s report on the BDR mutiny will be made public as soon as possible.

Talking to reporters, the BTRC chairman said, “Issuance of mobile SIM cards will be brought under a transparent system to deny criminals access to mobile phones and we shall make recommendations in this regard.”

He said the work for setting up a national monitoring cell is underway and it will start functioning soon.