The government has withdrawn Baggage Rule (facility of one duty free mobile phone) for international travellers, and is considering reduction in duties and taxes on imports of mobile phones to remove attraction in illegal imports.
This was revealed by officials of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) before the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication. The committee met with Senator Rubina Khalid in the chair here on Wednesday.
Director Cyber Wing of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Afzal Mehmood Butt informed the committee that data of 47,017 travellers was misused for registration of mobile phones through Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS). Further 15 complaints were received regarding illegal registration of mobile devices and 10 persons were arrested. Among the miscreants/data thieves, three FIA officials were also involved.
During investigation it was revealed that some computer operators charged Rs 80 for leaking passengers' data and the persons behind the scene and main culprits took benefits of up to Rs 25,000 per person's data. The committee was further informed that 10 people have been arrested so far involved in overseas/passengers' data theft for unblocking mobile phones illegally. The committee members said that such incidents need to be stopped as nobody would trust in sharing data in future.
The committee observed that bringing mobile phones had become a nightmare for international travellers. DIRBS was introduced for security reasons as well as to overcome the menace of smuggling, but the issues still continued, said Rubina Khalid.
Rehman Malik said that 80 percent mobile phones in the market were with replicated IMEIs, which was a matter of great concern.
The FBR official revealed that the government had withdrawn the facility of one duty free mobile import for international travellers from July 1, under the Finance Bill 2019-20 and one would have to pay taxes even if one brought a single mobile phone.
Chairman PTA Maj Gen Amir Azeem Bajwa (retd) informed the committee that the Authority could trace and identify the person with 100 percent accuracy who leaked the data, besides the place where the mobile phone was being used. He further said that PTA had reported over 45,000 cases of data theft to FIA so far for further action. Bajwa claimed that the trend of data theft had witnessed reduction.
Furthermore, he said the legal commercial import of mobile phones increased substantially after the implementation of DIRBS, as 45 million mobile phones were imported during the last six months which was almost double in number as compared to the same period of last year.
The chairman PTA said that government had reduced taxes on mobile phones imports and was still considering further reduction in it. The PTA supports reduction in taxes on mobile phone imports to make it more affordable and to remove attraction in illegal mobile imports.
Bajwa said that cellular mobile companies were interested in giving handsets to customers with SIMs (where no other SIMs/services of other companies could be used) on easy payment schedules, but they feared challenges in recovery and that was why they were hesitant. The committee appreciated the idea, while observing that it would be helpful in reducing mobile phone smuggling, as it was already applicable in other countries. He further said that PTA had adopted a two-step authentication process which would help in overcoming mobile phone registration through illegal ways.
The FBR officials said the government had collected Rs 150 million on 75,000 mobile phones so far under the DIRBS implementation. The committee was further informed that the government had prepared different slabs for tax collection on mobile handsets and the highest amount is Rs 31,000 applicable on mobile hand sets of value or above $500.
The committee members further expressed serious concerns over sale of Afghani SIMs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan where the people receive calls from kidnappers for ransom. Some video and audio clips were also played before the committee where kidnappers were asking for ransom. The PTA chairman said the matter was related to police and the Authority could help in tracing the caller's location, etc, if asked for.
Rubina Khalid said it had been reported that FIA had deputed officials at public places to control vulgarity like incidents. However, the director FIA said neither the department had such a cell nor had it deputed officials at public places to curb any such activity. The committee also expressed serious concerns over cyber crimes against children and directed the FIA for a detailed briefing on the matter.
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