Massive crackdown is underway across the province

Lahore: On the orders of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Muhammad Habib-ur-Rehman, a massive crackdown is underway across the province against the criminals involved the business of fake mobile phone SIMs.

Following Sargodha and Faisalabad, the Bahawalpur police have successfully smashed a gang of criminals involved in using fake SIMs to carry out terror attacks, and criminals activities including kidnapping for ransom and robberies.

DPO Bahawalpur Sohail Tajik personally supervised the police operation. According to the DPO, the police tracked down the gangsters by tracing the mobile phone SIMs used by the abductors, who had kidnapped Dr Saeed Ahmed, the resident Quetta. The kidnappers by using fake SIMs had demanded ransom from the family of Dr Saeed Ahmed who had been abducted in the recent past. The Bahawalpur police traced the SIMs located in Ahmedpur Sharkia.

According to intelligence reports, the police also arrested three accused namely Muhammad Ahmed, Irfan and Imran Shah. The police also recovered 30 mobile phones, 14 active SIMs and 1100 un-activated SIMs from their possession. During preliminary investigations, the accused told the police that they had been selling more than 20,000 to 30,000 SIMs on monthly basis across the country through a special device and these SIMs are used to carry out terror attacks and other heinous crimes like abduction for ransom and armed robberies.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Muhammad Habib-ur-Rehman has commended the services and bravery of DPO, Sohail Tajik, and his team for smashing the network of most-wanted criminals.