Arbeiderpartiet’s (Arp’s) Jan Bøhler wants it to be illegal to sell sim cards without the buyer’s identity being “checked and registered in a thorough manner”.
Parliamentary representative Bøhler has long been involved in the fight against gang crime and organised crime. He told Dagens Næringsliv newspaper that weak controls over who buys SIM cards makes the work of the police more difficult.
‘’The police say they have 50-60 cases where they strive to find out who is behind different types of crime. The reason for the problem is that it is so easy to obtain sim cards.Criminal gangs and networks in Oslo are able to buy sim cards without legitimising them’’ said Bøhler.
Dagens Næringsliv has recently shown how easy it is to acquire control over another person’s telephone number so-called mobile hijacking – precisely because of weak ID controls.
Today, the law requires “unambiguous identification” of the buyer of the sim card, but does not say anything about how this should happen.
‘’It is crucial to get a much stricter security check. What is lacking in the law, and especially the practice, that now exists is that it is not considered a clear offence when not done. That is not strict enough’’ said Bøhler.
He therefore proposed a requirement that “the buyer’s identity be checked and registered in a thorough manner”.Parliament’s justice committee came up with its recommendation this week.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
