KARACHI, Sept 16: The federal government has given police much-sought-after privilege of directly approaching mobile phone service providers to access cellular phone calls and short messaging service (SMS) data while investigating criminal cases without involving the telecoms regulator.

The move came to light when a meeting at the Central Police Office (CPO) on Tuesday between the city police high-ups and senior officials of the cellular companies reached the conclusion that a focal person appointed by the police would coordinate between the companies and the law enforcers to get the required data.

The meeting, which was also attended by senior officials from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, CPLC, DIG Investigations, DIG Crime Investigation Department and SSP Anti-Violent Crime Cell, also reached the conclusion that the cellular companies would submit their subscribers’ data to the city police. However, the officials did not announce the deadline for such a task.

“This recent step has been taken in line with the policy of the federal interior ministry, which has allowed us (police) to access the data available with the companies directly,” Wasim Ahmed, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), told Dawn following the meeting.

“We are soon going to appoint a focal person, who will be coordinating between the two sides. Apart from access to data, this privilege will help us address several other problems we face while investigating cases.”

The decision allowing direct police access to cellular communication data came weeks after the federal interior ministry first decided to make the service available to the law enforcers through the PTA.

Sindh IG Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak a few days ago confirmed the development saying the step was supposed to improve the methods of investigation and reach the desired results in minimum time. However, the fresh disclosure from the CCPO and first ever meeting in this connection between the police and the cellular companies’ officials suggests that things are moving fast to enable the investigators to counter the rising involvement of technology in criminal activities.

Currently, the police have no authority to obtain call or SMS data from the service provider and must navigate a cumbersome and time-consuming labyrinth to access information, which involves federal intelligence and security agencies to mediate and provide such information to the police.

With the new rules in place, the CCPO believes a marked difference is likely to be witnessed in the investigations of different cases. However, officials at the PTA remain tight-lipped about the development and denied any contribution from the telecoms regulator on this particular subject.

“The issue is confidential and is being handled by the ministry of interior,” a PTA spokesman said in a brief response to queries about the proposed mechanism of data sharing between the cellular companies and the police.

The police authorities are of the view that the ill-planned sale of SIMs (subscriber identity modules) by cellular companies also adds to the problems of the resource-starved investigators. The CCPO also raised the issue with the companies’ officials in Tuesday’s meeting, which decided to review the situation every month.

“There is a very serious problem of subscribers’ data compiled by the companies, as we have witnessed serious flaws in the whole process,” said Mr Ahmed. “The meeting also decided to check this issue through better coordination between the two sides.”

He said unverified and fake data of subscribers remained a serious hurdle while resolving mainly kidnapping for ransom cases and the companies had been asked to follow the defined rules while selling cellular connections.

Kidnapping for ransom

Later in the evening, addressing a press conference at the CPO, Sindh IG Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak said the number of kidnapping for ransom cases across the province had declined in recent days significantly, along with a sharp cut in street crime mainly in Karachi.

“The daily average of kidnappings for ransom has come down from 1.8 to 0.2,” he told reporters. “Some 77 kidnap victims, who were in the captivity of criminal gangs, have been recovered during the recent past.”

He said the Sindh police were engaged in an operation against dacoits in the interior of the province and in the process had eliminated 32 robbers, while they had managed to arrest 1,562 criminals in 365 encounters.

“In Karachi alone there has been 40 per cent decline in overall street crime, as cellphone snatching has dropped by 52 per cent and vehicle snatching or theft has reduced by almost 30 per cent,” added the IG Sindh.