According to sources, employees of the Federal Investigation Agency deployed on airports have been blamed to steal personal data of the passengers.
Director of cyber crime wing of the agency Afzal Butt disclosed to the standing committee of Senate for Information Technology and Telecommunication that, “While travel agents were stealing the documents of passengers returning from Umrah, three FIA officials at the airport have also come under scrutiny for selling passenger details on the black market,”
The data from the stolen identification documents are sold in the black market and is used to unblock non-custom paid mobile phones. Over 45,000 complaints have been registered against the FIA and three officials of the agency are under investigation. One of them is under arrest, while one has been granted bail and the other one is on pre-arrest bail.
While commenting on the Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS), Senator Rubina Khalid said that “The phone blocking system is draconian and ridiculous. This is the only country in the world where everything is becoming harder for citizens every day and the noose around their necks is ever tightening. The system has failed to curb the smuggling of mobile handsets, the very purpose for which it was developed”. Senator Rehman Malik responded to Senator Khalid that if the system has flaws, it should be removed.
Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) – Amir Azeem Bajwa retaliated on the criticism by the committee chair Senator Khalid. He claimed that since the establishment of the DIRBS, commercial imports of mobile phones have increased significantly. He added that “The PTA has the capability to identify and trace 100pc and reach the source of who and how the travel documents were stolen. The PTA can de-register a mobile handset that has been unblocked using false information.”
Federal minister for I.T. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui could not attend the important committee session which was much condemned by the members.
