(ATRA) ceases illegal telecom equipment in Kabul
ATRA which operates as an independent body within the MCIT and works in a transparent, purposeful and non-discriminatory manner is the only authority to regulate issues related to the Telecom sector.
As a result of the continuous tests carried out by the technical teams of ATRA and reports received from the licensed Telecom Services’ operators, it was recently found out that using a SIM Box, certain individuals carried out illegal operations in the thirteenth district of the Kabul city.
Having obtained this information, a technical and monitoring team of ATRA, in collaboration with the representatives of Law Enforcing Bodies such as the Attorney General’s office, the National Security Department and the Police, after obtaining authorization from the relevant district court, went to the house where suspected operation was established.
Having entered the house, the delegates noticed that one SIM Box with a capacity of 64 SIM cards, plus 701 new (unused) SIM cards, and 1064 used SIM cards belonging to different telecom companies, 336 credit cards with denomination of 50 Afghanis each, and a Satellite dish with all relevant accessories and equipment were present in the house. As a result of the operation a total of 54 items, the total cost of which could amount to thousands of dollars, were seized by the technical and monitoring team of the ATRA in collaboration with law enforcing bodies, and the violators were handed over to the Police and the Attorney’s office for interrogations.
It is worth mentioning that such operations can result in great financial impacts on the telecom market, lowering quality of service and may also be used for activities which could jeopardize national security.
Based on the provisions of the Telecom Services Regulation Law, the culprits have committed the following crimes:
- Have used illegal telecom equipment.
- Imported Telecom equipment without any authorizing license.
- Used frequency, which is a valuable national resource, illegally.
- In addition to inflicting huge amounts of loss in revenue to the government as well as to the Telecom Companies, the SIM Box could have been used for anti-government activities.
While ATRA appreciates cooperation and support of the security agencies and the Attorney General’s Office in the process, we hope that with their support the ATRA manages to put an end to such illegal operators in the country through seizure and blocking these heinous activities.
