Intelligence agencies along with the department of telecom (DoT) and the ministry of consumer affairs (MCA) are planning to undertake audit of duplicate mobiles and take stringent steps to curb the import of fake devices, which are posing a threat to national security.

These duplicates, which cannot be tracked due to the absence of a valid international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number, are being used by anti-national elements as well as unsuspecting customers. The increased emphasis on IMEI number and the drive to track duplicates comes in the wake of serial blasts in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi in the past few months.

“The government is planning to conduct an audit of over one crore subscribers who are using duplicate handsets,” sources told ET. To begin with, import of handsets are being checked more stringently. Low-cost Taiwanese and Chinese handsets are flooding India, which is adding over 9 million subscribers every month. Till now, it was not necessary to declare the IMEI number at the time of shipping devices into India.

Source: ET